Avenger's Assemble
by Sithicus
Summary: The second adventure in my Crisis on Earth 929 series; I strongly advise reading Of Spiders and Mutants first, if you haven't done so already... (Now Complete)
1. Chapter 1 Emotions

**Author's Notes:** I'm back with the next exciting adventure in my Crisis on Earth 929 series; in this chapter we will deal with the aftermath of the climax from the last adventure, however the explanations will still have to wait.

The usual disclaimer applies, I claim no ownership of any of the Marvel characters, however Alain Desrochers AKA Allan Rutherford is mine; feel free to R&R and I highly suggest that if you haven't read it yet, you should go check out Of Spiders and Mutants, the first in my series...

* * *

Prologue 

The source stood before his chosen warrior; the new evil or rather the old evil reawakened and given a second chance. His strange yet imposing features meant nothing to the source; he was even more powerful then this puny human who had been drafted by his love.

"You are clear on what you must do?" The Source demanded glaring evenly at the sunken eyes of this new warrior.

"Crystal clear mein fuehrer." He intoned offering a snap salute.

"Excellent; then go forth and sow the seeds of Chaos further for you shall be amply rewarded for all your years of loyal service." The Source ordered in that ever so commanding tone he had mastered; with a small smile and a flick of his wrist a section of the room was bathed in pale lights revealing new toys for his newly chosen warrior. "And to ensure that you will not suffer incompetence, a little going away present." He added with a small smile; once again his warrior saluted and smartly turned on his heels barking orders to his new soldiers who instantly marched in step behind him as he left.

"Are you certain he can be controlled?" His lover asked emerging from the shadows as he allowed the illusion to disperse.

"I don't see why not; he is fanatical and has not questioned our little donation for his services." The Source intoned with a sly grin. "Besides it would be best if our adversary takes this one out of the equation anyway; he is just far too unpredictable and deadly to keep alive in our new world order." He added slipping back into his throne like seat as his lover climbed up into his lap; she cooed in his ear and began to kiss his cheek, his forehead, his lips biting after each kiss and he reveled in the pain.

* * *

Rogue shifted in her seat as she eyed the resting form of Allan Rutherford; it had been a day since his injury and his falling into this strange state of suspended animation. The Professor had insisted that they keep a watch on him at all times; she knew her time would soon be up and Hank would be relieving her, but a part of her was dieing to stay and be there for when he woke up so that she could confront him. She knew that her powers should have worked; normally they didn't work with cyborgs or people who had replaced most of their organs with machines, but Al was not a cyborg he was technorganic and so should have been affected.  
So how come she could touch him; why was it that when she had grabbed his hand to prevent his fall she had felt his slightly rough though smooth skin instead of the familiar sensations of her powers kicking in? She had to know that it wasn't just a fluke; glancing back to the door to ensure that no one had arrived yet she quickly locked it to ensure that no one would walk in on this. Gently removing her glove she approached the eerily still form of the man and after taking a few quick breaths to calm her nerves and prepare herself she lightly brushed her fingers over his cheek.  
Nothing; just the smooth feel of his skin it was very smooth actually there was no hint of stubble whatsoever and she remembered that after a long and drawn out examination Hank had reported that Al's unique status seemed to have rendered his follicle growth non-existent. His hair hadn't grown an inch since Hank had last examined him and he couldn't grow a beard or anything; Hank surmised that since the Nanoprobes were designed to be perfect efficient constructs they had effectively rendered all non-efficient human practices obsolete in the case of Mister Rutherford.  
Why was she even thinking about this now? With a small sigh she wondered if she should test just once more; to be double sure, reaching out once again she stroked the mans cheek marveling at the sensation of touch. It wasn't truly new to her; she remembered what it was like to touch without fear of her powers acting up, most of her recent experiences however had involved mutant power inhibition collars. This was different in and of itself; she smiled as she continued to run her fingers over his strong and firm jaw line tears slowly trailing down her cheek, she shouldn't be doing this, harboring these sudden feelings. With a small curse she forced herself away from the man and replaced her glove; quickly moving back to the door and unlocking it, she needed to get out of here and get some perspective on this.  
As she turned away from the door it suddenly opened and Hank entered; he moved immediately over to Al's side and pulled his covering back to check on the injury. 

"Amazing it's as if nothing even happened; there's no scaring, no marks of any kind even the dried up blood seems to have been reabsorbed into his body." He remarked the twinkle of fascination in his eye.

"Ah'm goin' now Hank, tell the Professah Ah'll be back tomorrow ok" Rogue requested briefly touching her friend on the shoulder before turning to leave.

"Rogue you should talk to him about what happened." Hank gently suggested his concern for her sudden emotional state clear in his tone.

"Ah know, but Ah... Ah just need to figure this out on mah own; so Ah know what tah say when..." She trailed off looking to Al's face once more; it was so peaceful, with a quick and sudden turn she rushed from the room needing to get somewhere where the air was clear and she could think straight.

"A pity that such things must always arise to complicate matters further." Hank muttered turning back to his examination of his patient; though he really hadn't done anything. "Alas ours is not to reason why." He whispered sighing slightly as he once again readied the computers to study the nano-probes activities; he was most curious to know what they were doing now.

Crisis on Earth 929

Avenger's Assemble

The man known as Hank Pym sat before one of the many computer terminals located within the central control room of Avengers' Mansion as he carefully studied the images captured by S.H.I.E.L.D representatives who had recently witnessed a skirmish between four known members of the Brotherhood, Spider-Man, the Lizard, three members of the X-Men and two people he had personally never seen before. One appeared to possess identical powers to Spider-Man, but was obviously feminine and decidedly younger then the web-slinger.  
The other was a mystery; he was obviously some form of mutant, though he couldn't possibly have gained his abilities through genetic mutation. Mainly because the S.H.I.E.L.D sensor equipment had detected obvious gravitational fluxes far too controlled or precise for any mutant to effectively control. Not to mention it was unheard of for a mutant to develop more then two powers; while this man seemed to demonstrate super-strength, advanced healing, gravitational and magnetic manipulation as well as the ability to generate electrical bursts of energy from his fingertips.  
This left the Avenger to deduce that the man in question was a mutant who had been artificially created somehow; though it was impossible to get clear readings due to a strange interference the man had been generating during the fight. Hank surmised that it might involve his gravitational field; if the man had a strong enough control over the effects of gravity it was highly conceivable that he was actually a moving pole.  
So far he'd failed to identify the female spider, but the man's face had actually appeared in the database as a Mister Allan Rutherford. The thing is his record was just a little too clean; Hank suspected he might be some kind of government agent who had gone rogue and was now being monitored, but he didn't like to make guesses without hard facts.

"Any luck in breaking that interference?" Janet asked entering the room and passing her husband one of the steaming mugs of coffee she'd brought with her.

"I just can't figure out why the sensor equipment was blocked just enough to keep us from figuring out how his powers manifested." Hank replied with a weary though grateful sigh as he plucked the mug from her hand and downed the contents in two gulps. "Still I'm curious to know just how he survived that wound." He admitted pausing the playback as it reached the time index where the man literally stirred and mumbled something effectively shutting off the strange computer's report on his injuries.

"No ordinary man could survive that; not even a mutant or super powered human could survive an injury like that if they weren't invulnerable." She returned shuddering slightly with disgust and pity at the sight of the wound. "And he is clearly not invulnerable."

"We just don't have enough to go on." Hank muttered. "Damn Fury for insisting we see to this personally; I hate trying to figure out mysteries for that man, more often then not it always leads to us getting involved in a big fight." He cursed rubbing his eyes to alleviate the exhaustion he was feeling even after ingesting the coffee.

"Come on you need some rest; it'll help to tackle this problem when you're refreshed." She stated knowingly; Hank shook off her iron-tight grip only to feel her tenaciously clinging on.

"How do you propose I get to sleep now that I've had that coffee?" He asked with a wry chuckle; Janet shot him a mischievous smile.

"Oh I can think of ways of tiring you out." She returned in a sultry tone; Hank smiled back at his wife and allowed her to drag him from the room.

"Have I told you I love you recently?" He wondered; she just shook her head with a warm smile and continued to pull him along.

To Be Continued


	2. Chapter 2 Informative and Stressful

**Author's Notes:** Yes friends another update, so please R&R and of course the usual disclaimer applies.

* * *

With a low moan and a very sickening aftertaste in my mouth I returned to the land of the living opening my eyes slowly; experience told me I would be drained after such an extensive repair, but I knew I had to explain myself to the X-Men before I sought regeneration. Glancing around the stark medical ward with a hint of distaste at seeing it so soon after my initial awakening in this room not so long ago I was taken by complete surprise when Jean appeared at my side with exuberant glee on her features. My surprise doubled as she actually hugged me tears of joy collecting on her cheeks and her telepathic shout to the others sent my head ringing with slight annoyance.

"I didn't know you guys cared so much." I rasped my voice hoarse as it always was so soon after emerging from stasis; Jean merely laughed at the remark and ruffled my hair playfully as if we were brother and sister or something.

"I see the intrepid hero awakes as hale and hearty as the day we met." Hank remarked as he joined us. "And hopefully he shall grant us the gift of understanding." He added moving to the computers still monitoring me and running a practiced eye over me; Piotr and Remy were hot on his heels.

"What he means is welcome back Mon Ami." Remy stated clasping my hand in a friendly show of welcome and giving me a wink. "You certainly have the luck with the cheries'." He whispered referring no doubt to Jeans odd behavior towards me.

"You sure took one heck o' a blow there Kilowatt." Logan chimed in as he, Scott and Kurt joined the assembled cast. "Gotta give yah credit for that." He added slapping my shoulder good naturedly; I was smiling openly at all this show of respect, friendship and concern directed towards me, but a small part of me felt really guilty because I'd never bothered to tell them why I couldn't be killed by someone like Toad.

"Yeah we were all worried you were never coming back." Jubilee admitted shyly wrapping me in a hug while the subdued Illyana that had accompanied her watched out of the corner of her eyes tears also running down her face.

"I'm afraid Toad got away in all the confusion." Bobby revealed as he led Kitty inside; she was looking at me with something akin to fear in her eyes and I supposed she was thinking I'd look horribly scarred or something. Considering I doubt the Professor would have allowed the younger team members to see me earlier. "Spider-Man and Spider-Girl have been keeping an eye out for him while they tried to track down Lizard." He added with a growl. "Man I'd love to pay him back for what he did."

"Revenge serves no purpose Robert." The Professor lightly chastised as he allowed Ororo to wheel him into the room; I knew without needing to be told that Rogue would not be joining us just yet and I couldn't blame her. She probably wanted to confront me alone in order to know why her powers hadn't worked; and I must admit I was just as curious and afraid as she must be. "I see you are back; now among friends and free of any visible scarrings or indeed even a hint of an injury." He added now addressing me as he moved to sit before me as he steepled his fingers and eyed me with a look that reminded me of an almost fatherly affection and concern. As if I was one of his students; the expression and thought behind it brought a tired smile to my lips as I realized that all of them had accepted me as if I truly was a member of the X-Men.

"Ja vhat is the story behind this?" Kurt wondered voicing the question that all of them must have been sharing. I let out a sigh; a very weary and pained sigh that spoke volumes of how much I loathed revealing this small fact about me. Not that I was particularly upset with this aspect of my new life, but you tended to get funny looks when people found out you were nigh immortal.

"My nanoprobes gave me these powers; all of them, gravitational manipulation, electrical absorption, electrical dispersion everything that is useful for offensive and defensive purposes." I began propping myself up into a sitting position and involuntarily touching the spot on my left breast where the pipe had torn through flesh and most likely bone. "There is one other gift they saw fit to bestow upon me; something I can't entirely understand, but something I have learned to live with." I explained the phantom pangs of the pain from; _what was it two days ago?_ I shuddered slightly and shook myself of these thoughts and lingering feelings; it was easy I'd become used to this sort of thing.  
"A human is gifted with the natural ability to heal minor injuries; to an extent, as he ages this ability begins to grow sluggish and tends to take more time then usual. A machine does not have this gift; a mechanic must repair it with tools, however the Borg are capable of much more." I continued another sigh escaping my lips. "I am unique; a technorganic hybrid, thus my healing abilities have developed beyond anything mortal man has ever seen before. I am effectively immortal; no injury no matter how severe is capable of killing me, I should know I tested this extensively while the Doctor carefully monitored my tests to understand what happened." I paused briefly a look of disgust crossing over my features as the sour aftertaste of blood continued to bombard my senses; Hank handed me a small glass of water and I graciously accepted it gulping the contents down swiftly.

"When you say immortal." Charles began. "Do you mean like a God such as Thor?"

"No; my immortality is not as concrete, it is true that I can survive all forms of unnatural causes of death as well as practically all known natural causes. However the extent of this gift is limited to my life-span; after all even a technorganic Borg can't regenerate indefinitely." I explained with a wry smirk playing across my features. "Also if I was to encounter a powerful entity such as a demon I could conceivably be terminated if they bombarded me with enough dark energies." I added another sigh escaping my lips. "Before you ask; yes I am going to live a very long time, according to last calculations I estimate a good ten millennia before my nano-probes prove incapable of regenerating."

"You are indeed a unique individual." Hank concurred reaching down to pat my shoulder in a show of understanding friendship.

"And entering this stasis lock is merely a way of the nanoprobes focusing solely on the repair of your injuries." Charles surmised with a small nod.

"Yes and no; Stasis Lock is only initiated when I suffer something of a serious nature. For instance if I was to break my spine, stasis lock would not be needed. However suffering the loss of my heart or brain requires the higher reasoning protocols to shut down; after all no one can still move about without a heart." I corrected with a telltale smirk; Charles nodded and reached up to also pat my shoulder, much to my surprise I found myself breaking out with a yawn and quickly moved my hand to cover my mouth. "Always takes a lot out of me; in retrospect you should have thought to place me on my regeneration bed, but after all you didn't know what was happening so I can't fault you... If anything it's my own fault for not telling anyone beforehand." I added moving to stand; I wasn't really surprised to see my shirt had been removed after all it had been pierced by the pipe as well and most likely soaked by the blood.

"Rogue wishes to speak with you." Charles whispered low enough so that the others couldn't hear me. "I told her to meet you in your room." He added.

"I don't exactly relish this." I muttered with a small sigh; the Professor patted my arm since he couldn't reach my shoulder anymore in understanding sympathy and gazed knowingly into my eyes. "I know, I know I can't put it off." I added smiling now; turning to address everyone present I lowered my head in a show of respect. "I am deeply sorry that you had to find out through this circumstance; I trust you shall forgive me for never getting around to mentioning this little gift of mine." I apologized with a quiet conviction; I wouldn't let anybody get the jump on me again that's for damn sure.

"Tink' nothin' of it Mon ami." Remy chuckled; a pack of cards shuffling between his hands as he shifted from his leaning position against the other examination table.

"Yeah bub, we all keep secrets." Logan added shooting a sympathetic look my way; after all his healing factor ensured that he too would have a fairly long lifespan, far more then a normal human being might enjoy.

"Go mein freund, get some rest, you deserve it." Kurt chimed in moving over to the door and opening it for me; I nodded in thanks and gave a quick wave of farewell to the rest of the team before I took my leave.

"So Jean what was all that about?" Bobby wondered after Al left.

"I was just happy to see him alive." She hastily replied shooting a warning glance at Bobby as Scott visibly tensed up. "Any one of us would be guilty of doing the same thing if one of us were injured. Besides it isn't exactly a crime." She added moving to stand closer to her husband.

"I can't help, but be reminded of another's words in recent days." Charles observed surprising the others by voicing his own opinion. "According to young Spider-Girl our Mister Rutherford is merely quite easy to want to hug." He added a small smile crossing his lips as the rest of the X-Men eyed him incredulously.

"Why Professor I do believe you made a joke." Hank stated grinning from ear to ear; the Professor merely shrugged and slowly made his way from the room.

"That was totally unexpected." Kitty whispered to Jubilee; she nodded and turned to Illyana with a look of concern the Russian mutant had been very subdued since Rutherford had been brought back and she was understandably concerned.

* * *

Rogue was pacing in my room when I got there; she eyed me nervously as I flopped into the easy chair thinking it would be very impolite to simply lie down for this. She looked like she hadn't gotten much sleep over the past few days; and I couldn't blame her if something like what happened between us had happened to me and someone else... Well you get where I'm trying to go with this; she stopped pacing a few minutes later and whirled a confrontational look on her face.

"Why?" She demanded. "Yah ain't a cyborg or anythin' else that would qualify yah as immune; Ah mean yah are organic still rahte?" She added her accent now so thick I was having a hard time getting the gist of what she was asking in my exhausted state.

"I don't know; you're right though for all intents and purposes your power should have still affected me the same as any normal human. You would have gotten my memories and my natural abilities, which aren't much without the nano-probes." I admitted trying and failing to make light of the situation. She marched straight up to me and glared into my eyes; I shirked back from that glare a sheepish smile of apology on my lips.

"Then why can Ah touch yah?" She demanded; I shrugged and then slumped my shoulders with a sigh.

"The only way to know for absolute certainty is for us to touch again; now that I'm fully functional again I can initiate a scan and determine just how your powers are being neutralized." I explained in a hushed whisper; this was very awkward I didn't know why she was so adamant about this, but I could guess. She was probably scared out of her mind that the reason her powers weren't working was because something was wrong with her; I mean sure she'd always hated not being able to touch anyone, or so I imagined. But that still didn't mean she wanted to lose the abilities.  
She looked into my eyes with fear and sudden hope before both emotions washed over her completely replaced with firm resolve; slipping off her left glove she took hold of my right hand and held it there longer then she would have ever wanted to, judging from the expression on her face.  
My watch was running a constant scan and as the answer presented itself I found myself involuntarily letting out a gasp and pulling my hand away to cover my expression of amazed wonder. She looked at me in fear and incessant curiosity; I looked to her and quickly averted my eyes suddenly feeling very conscientious.

"What is it sugah?" She demanded firmly placing her hands on her hips and shooting me another patented death glare; she didn't want me to beat around the bush, obviously.

"My nanoprobes..." I trailed off unable to phrase what I wanted to say just right; she switched her pose now striding up to within a hands' length away from me and forced me to look into her eyes.

"Tell me damnit." She snapped.

"They erected a force field." I explained getting the words out at last; she was visibly shaken at this and took an involuntary step back. "When you came in contact with me the nano-probes detected some kind of resonating frequency; they attributed it as a threat and erected a force field bare inches above my skin. In essence they've effectively neutralized your power over me; you can touch me because your hand passes through this force field, but the ability to absorb, your mutant gift is prevented from reaching me." I explained my voice hushed; she trembled briefly before collapsing to her knees, I rushed to see if there was anything I could do, but she shoved me aside.

"So what yah're sayin' is that yah're immune." She whispered after a good five minutes of daunting silence passed between us. "Yah're the one person in the entire world who can block mah abilities through natural means." She added looking up at me with pleading eyes; she wanted me to deny it, tell her that, that just wasn't the case, but I couldn't lie for her. I also couldn't speak because I was so tired so I merely nodded; her reaction took me by complete surprise she let out a scream of anguish and rushed me. She grabbed my bare shoulder willing her power to work, when that didn't work she grabbed my hand again, and then quickly brushed her fingers over my chest, my cheek, my closed eyelids as tears began to well she didn't want to face the truth.

"No, no, no it can't be lahke this...Yah can't be the one, yah just can't." She snarled vehemently falling once more to her knees before me and covering her face with her hands as she wept bitterly; I was completely incapable of figuring out why she was reacting this way, some part of my sub-conscious was trying to get to me and explain this, but I was just so bone dead tired and drained I couldn't think straight.

"I don't understand what all this fuss is about." I freely admitted in a hoarse whisper; I'd failed to notice that tears of pity had started to fall earlier. "But I'd be glad to offer my services as trouble listener, advice giver." I added tilting her head up and offering a friendly smile; she bit back the retort she obviously wanted to say and shook free of my weak grasp averting her eyes and quickly wiping away the tears.

"Ah don't want yah're help." She muttered; I sighed and lowered myself from the chair to the floor so that we could be eye level or as close to eye level as was possible.

"Please I can't stand it when my friends are hurting inside; let me help." I insisted reaching out to grasp her shoulder and stopping myself bare inches from her; after all touching seemed to be what the whole damn problem was in the first place.

"Don't yah get it?" She demanded. "Ah can touch yah; that means Ah can do other things too... Ah won't pretend Ah haven't been attracted tah yah since we met; because Ah have, but Ah just can't deal with this... Ah don't want to start somethin' knowin' yah're gonna leave once yah find this chaos and deal with it." She admitted knocking me for a loop; I fell backwards into a sitting position and stared blankly at the carpet, this wasn't what I'd expected to hear. She was happy she could touch; she wanted to find someone like me her whole life and that made some sense, but when she finally found the one person in the world who could show her what it was like to have a normal loving relationship, it turned out he was a guy from another universe who she didn't really think would even want such a thing. And to a certain degree she had a point; I hadn't been looking for another physical relationship when I left Serenity behind I knew it might be some time since I found another special someone, not four to five days later.  
I ran my hand through my hair as I looked at her again; this was so out of left field it had to be in the rough and I... Well slag it all what the hell was I supposed to do? To say? She couldn't just pretend nothing had happened and go on being my friend when this was far from such a simple solution. _What is it with me and women? First Gabrielle gets a crush on me; then I make a Goddess desire to have me as her personal sex toy and now I've got a mutant who can't touch anyone intimately wanting to start an intimate relationship with the one person she was hoping to find her entire adult life. Wonderful all I need now is for everyone to start breaking out in song and dance like some crazy musical or something..._

"Maybe we should just slow down and take this one step at a time." I began careful of how I phrased my words. "I mean I have to admit I'm attracted to you too, but rushing into something isn't what I'd recommend even if I did know how long I was going to stay here." I added glancing to her and seeing that at least she was looking at me again; I let out another sigh and rubbed the back of my neck in usual nervous tension before deciding to move on.

"Here's what I suggest, why don't we just get to know each other a little better and see what happens from there... I know, I know I won't be around for ever, but I am willing to do whatever it takes to stop you from feeling so bad... I'm a sucker for a damsel in distress." I admitted with a playful grin.

"What's that supposed tah mean?" She wondered her tone still bitter; I sighed.

"It means I'm willing to pursue anything at this junction, in hindsight I kind of knew something might be building between us..."I trailed off briefly and shot her a winning smile. "Besides if it's one thing experience has taught me it's that my stays usually last a good few years before I leave."

"But yah're still gonna leave, and then what will Ah do?" She wondered turning away from me; I mentally kicked myself and also felt like just pushing her out the door I was too tired to deal with this and my anger was starting to rise, but I managed to get control over it easily enough.

"A wise man once said it is better to have loved and lost then never to have loved before." I quoted; she looked at me incredulously and just shook her head eliciting another sigh. "Look I'm willing to try and get around this snag; can't you just ignore what your mind is telling you and listen to your heart for once?" I wondered kicking myself at the look she shot me for saying that, just what the hell was I doing? This was so not a good idea, I mean everything was going so fast and I knew that it was wrong to be doing this like that, but... Well Roma did say I shouldn't feel guilty about enjoying myself, and I had made a decent bunch of friends the four days or so I've been here so far. Would it be too rash to jump into something as a full-fledged relationship so soon? Yeah probably, but as I've claimed before I am a gentleman at heart and I just can't stand to have anybody I consider a friend feeling hurt because of me. It's one of my fairly limited amount of character flaws, but it is a big one.

"Ok, ok Ah give. If Ah promise tah at least try and get along wit' yah will yah drop this whole relationship thang?" She asked; I shrugged and smiled warmly at her once more.

"I will on one condition; don't write me off just yet ok... I mean sometimes it's good to have someone to go to when you're hurting." I returned.

"Ok deal, so Ah guess we should tell the Professah then?" She wondered a small blush playing across her cheeks once more.

"Do me a really big favor; don't I really don't look forward to getting a lecture about how I was acting just now... In all honesty I've had enough chewing's out from the Captain on Voyager to last me a life time." I admitted in a conspiratorial whisper; she laughed at that and I was pleased that once again she was acting cordial and happy around me, I hated it when I made people cry worse then when I hurt them.

"Ah'll leave yah tah sleep." She stated rising to her feet; with a bone weary sigh I climbed back to my feet and stumbled over to the bed. She turned back to me with a smile before leaving and literally blew me a kiss, which took me by surprise. I felt my cheeks growing hot and I quickly covered my face to hide the fact; she giggled at my discomfort. "Serves yah right fer tryin' tah score points with me." She stated; I pulled the covers back and shot her an incredulous glare.

"Oh come on you don't seriously think..." I trailed off as I went back over the entire conversation. "Oh hell." I blurted letting my head fall onto the pillow.

"Sweet dreams sugah." She called out emphasizing her last word with a hint of suggestibility; I groaned into my pillow and tossed one of my shoes in the general direction of the door. She let out a mock shriek of fear and quickly shut the door; my shoe fell short of the door anyways due to the fact that I'd been aiming at the light switch. The lights went out and I sighed contentedly as the familiar sensations of regeneration washed over me.

"Makes me wish I'd been shot instead; maybe I'd really be dead then." I muttered taking the time to quickly shrug out of my pants and other shoe before falling back into bed and quickly giving in to the urge to sleep.

To Be Continued


	3. Chapter 3 Battle Begins

**Author's Notes:** Well, here's another update... Please bear in mind that what follows in this chapter is something that may cause offense or at least upset certain readers... I appologize right away if that is the case, but this is a work of fiction and not to be taken too literally.

I make no claims to owning any of the Marvel characters represented in this chapter, they belong to Marvel... Whereas the other reference belongs to Hasbro Inc. R&R folks and enjoy it for what it is, harmless entertainment.

* * *

"Avenger's Assemble!" The voice of Captain America called over the inter communications' channel; no matter where they were in the mansion the members of the Avengers snapped to immediate action and charged towards the planning room.

"What's up Cap?" Iron-Man asked as he charged into the central conference room; still buckling one of his gauntlets on.

"You'll find out when we're all here." The six foot one inch man with the eye-patch, dark brown hair with graying temples and usual cigar butt in his mouth quipped from his place at the table.

"Hello to you too Nick." Iron-Man retorted with a chuckle assuming a seat next to Simon Williams AKA Wonder Man; the ionic energy controller smiled briefly at his friend before glancing around in annoyance.

"Who's not here yet?" Wanda Maximoff wondered shifting slightly in her seat next to Vision; the android rested his arm across her shoulder and smiled at her, but she shrugged it off feeling slightly conscientious.

"Take a wild guess sis." Pietro scoffed crossing his arms in disgust as he tapped his foot impatiently.

"I am here now." Natasha suddenly quipped as she dashed in and took her seat; she was still tugging one of her gloves on. "I'd like to see you try and prepare for an emergency after just getting back from a date." She added haughtily.  
Nick Fury ignored the banter and pulled up an image of a strange looking mechanoid on the main monitor; it was mostly black and silver with thick arms and legs. The chest was of average build and the face was one big silver mask broken up by the red eye shield; situated on the chest was the image of a small hooded cobra barring its fangs.

"Battle Android Troopers." He began getting straight to the point. "After the fall of Hydra and AIM in the late seventies we believed Terrorist Organizations would die out due to lack of sufficient fundings. We were wrong; nineteen eighty-two saw the rise of a new and far more ruthless organization, which is still classified as a high priority threat to this day." He paused to switch images to a shot of Times Square, which showed a very empty street for a Sunday night. "But we're not here to discuss the history of Cobra; today at approximately seven fifteen roughly seven thousand B.A.Ts materialized inside Times Square and a threat was called in warning us that if we didn't give in to the demands of their commander they would begin attacking at once." He stated; the group of heroes gave a collective gasp. "A thorough examination of the call has let us know that Cobra is in fact not behind this; from the time of the threat to six-thirty this evening we have been evacuating the area where the B.A.Ts are located. S.H.I.E.L.D operatives are standing by for when they come online; Spider-Man, Daredevil, The Punisher and even that new Spider-Girl are also waiting them out to help us out. However it's not enough; we need the Avengers" He finished eyeing each member of the super hero team; all of them returned the gaze and gave a brief nod indicating that Fury could count on them.

"So what are we sitting around here for?" Pietro wondered preparing to race off.

"Not so fast Quicksilver; we need to be fully prepared first." Captain America countered rising from his position and moving to stand next to Fury. "Show them the sat-photo." He ordered; Fury complied and an image replaced that of Times Square revealing a figure each member of the team knew all too well.

"I thought he was dead!" Hawkeye blurted the first to express the shock he was feeling at the sight before him.

"We all did Clint." Cap agreed with a sad look in his eyes. "But apparently he's back and in control of these B.A.T units."

"Which is why we want you to oversee this operation personally; if he shows up it'll be because you are there. Now before you head out there's one important factor about B.A.Ts' you should be made aware of." Fury stated resuming the lecture. "According to General Flagg of GIJoe if you don't take out their operating systems it will trigger the fail safe device; which means they'll detonate with enough force to destroy a city block."

"Tricky snakes aren't they." Iron-Man quipped hiding his true feelings behind a careful mask of sarcastic wit.

"They are also going to be using live ammunition; and some of the units are carrying rifles equipped with acid tipped bullets." Fury added with a low growl. "So be careful; this isn't a picnic boys and girls; our job is to ensure these units are taken down with minimum structural damage... Are you all aware of what must be done?" He demanded for the sake of protocol.

"We understand." Thor stated for the entire group. "Mjolnir and I are ready to end the threat of these abominations." He added.

"Good; you all know what's at stake here, Avengers good luck." Fury stated lowering his head slightly as he cut the feed from his portable dossier device and the main computers; the image of the one behind this mess vanished as effortlessly as the true being was capable of.

* * *

Gun fire suddenly erupted at precisely seven pm as thousands of Battle Android Troopers activated and began to pour all their twisted programs into decimating Times Square. Daredevil watched in sorrow from the roof of the Rockefeller Center and wondered just how this small group of heroes and S.H.I.E.L.D were going to stop a horde of determined B.A.Ts? Spider-Man was perched a few feet away in a tense pose eager to leap into the fray, but Daredevil could tell he was more worried about his inability to locate the Lizard; suddenly the younger female swung down her own web-line and executed a perfect landing.

"The Avengers are inbound and ol' Skull and Crossbones is sitting at the opposite end of seventh near Carnegie Hall." She reported moving to stand next to Spider-Man and gently placing a hand on his shoulder to give him a quick squeeze for luck.

"People have all been evacuated; all I can hear are those mindless automatons." Daredevil whispered more because he didn't feel right breaking the silence of the city with his voice; Spider-Man nodded most likely already aware of that. Daredevil grinned as he twirled his billy club in anticipation; so it was up to him and two arachnids to hold the fort alongside a loose cannon like The Punisher before The Avengers arrived.  
He flinched inwardly as an abandoned down-town bus detonated under heavy firepower and the tromping of the B.A.Ts metal footfalls caused an involuntary shiver down his spine.

"You'd better not get stuck in between the B.A.Ts and their targets Daredevil you don't have the luxury of a spider-sense." Spider-Man quipped briefly wishing to lighten the mood as he usually did; Daredevil smirked and merely bent into a crouch preparing to leap into the fray.

"Move in!" The sudden bellow from Nick Fury over the communications equipment each hero had been supplied with for this mission ordered; Spider-Man moved first leaping into mid-air and swinging out above the surging army of B.A.Ts he shot out a web-line into a group of them and swung the one he'd snagged around hard causing it to collide with its counterparts. Spider-Girl joined Spider-Man swinging out above the city streets and doing as much as she could; Daredevil slid down the fire escape and attacked the fringes of the swarm lightly tapping the cranium units of the assault drones and causing them to tumble into their peers.

* * *

Up near Carnegie Hall The Punisher was strapping a shit-load of armaments onto his person in the back of his battle van; he twisted the ammo belt clips securing it to his chest and flicked open the rifle to ensure it was loaded.

"They have begun the counter-attack." He resumed reciting into his personal recording device. "I can not believe that at long last it has come down to this; war directly in Mid-Town Manhattan, of course it was inevitable, with enough time anyone can amass an army and secrete it into the country. At last personal count there were eighty-five thousand units alone marching inexorably down Seventh Avenue, but I am confident that we can reduce those numbers indefinitely... This may be my last recording; if that is the case I left instructions on where I have placed my Will, my store of ammunition and entire arsenal is revealed in that document and all other pertinent information. That's everything I have to say on the matter; I wish everyone involved this night the best of luck and also choose to state that I wouldn't want it any other way." He finished dictating as he pulled his long black coat over top of his impressive build; the sounds of battle drew closer and he gritted his teeth slightly as he hefted the twin rifles he'd chosen to begin the fight with.  
With a last order to end recording he swung open the side door and leapt out weapons blazing; S.H.I.E.L.D hover pods flew about above the city as the members of that organization began to also join the fray. Thunder suddenly rang out and a bolt of lightning struck down in the direct center of the swarming drones; Thor, Iron-Man and Wonder Man arrived swooping out of the sky as Hawkeye, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch and Captain America leapt into the fray. The battle was joined; the heroes and S.H.I.E.L.D operatives taking down numerous B.A.Ts left and right, but more continued to pour down the streets of Manhattan leaving very little breathing room for the group to maneuver around or take a break even briefly to catch there bearings; it was a frenzy of motion. However the one who had sent these automatons to deal with the Avengers and others was far from interested in the outcome of this battle; no his eyes were turned towards a smaller fracas going on in Westchester right this very moment.

To Be Continued


	4. Chapter Four Battle Concludes

**Author's Notes:** I'll try to check out your stuff one of these days Possom, but I can't guarantee it happening soon... What with me being back at work now, my online time is greatly limited.

The usual disclaimer applies; Marvel characters belong to Marvel, GIJoe ultimately belongs to Hasbro of America and has been borrowed for this tale. As always R&R folks...

* * *

I awoke with a start as a loud explosion rocked the very mansion itself; glancing quickly to the clock on my wall I saw that I had only been asleep for two hours, not enough time to regenerate fully, but at least enough to snap wide awake at the first signs of trouble.  
A cry from downstairs alerted me that the battle was in full swing and yet I didn't know who was fighting us; in fact the explosions that were closer at hand seemed to be coming from outside the mansion, a growl from Logan made me realize the gravity of the situation and I turned to roll off my bed. Instead however I was forced to shield my eyes as the door blew apart under heavy machine gun fire and a fairly familiar looking mechanoid entered the room.

"Don't you know it's impolite to barge in without knocking?" I reflexively quipped even as I shoved the metallic construct back through the doorway right into the path of one of Scotts' optic beams.

"Get dressed and get out here." He shot over his shoulder as he rushed past my exposed entranceway; there was no way I was going to waste time putting my clothes on, this was a combat situation and it called for fast actions not to be encumbered by sheer modesty. Besides I always did wear big boxers; the kind that could double as shorts in an emergency such as this just in case I was needed, leaping off my bed and swaying slightly due to the fact that I wasn't at a hundred percent power I drew my lightsaber to my hand and rushed out.  
I managed to catch up to Scott who had picked up Bobby and Ororo still clad in their own sleeping attire; I couldn't help myself, my male mind just automatically snapped over to Ororo with an appreciating glance before I quickly got my instincts back under control. No time to start gawking after all; Scott was running down the stairs when a hail of gun fire erupted, he managed to dodge it in time, but I figured it would be suicide to go running blindly into the fray. Rushing closer to the banister I leapt out above the foyer and landed in between three BATs and Piotr who was bashing their skulls in left and right.

"Illyana." He cried trying desperately to reach his sister; glancing to my right I spotted the younger X-Man desperately trying to keep the uncaring monsters off of her and doing little to succeed, she was obviously too tired to concentrate on any effective spells. With a quick thought I snagged her attackers in a powerful magnetic grip and crumpled them together creating one giant ball of junk.

"Tin cans." I mumbled switching on the bladed weapon and shedding a little more light in the room.

"What are dese tings' Mon ami?" Remy wondered coming up beside me. "A new breed o' Sentinels?" I shook my head in the negative as I sliced the legs out from under one of the BATs and quickly stabbed him in the head; though a part of me wondered why I'd done that after it was clearly out of the fight.

"Battle Android Troopers." I supplied hacking another from the pelvic region to the brain. "Mindless mechanical foot soldiers built by Dr. Mindbender for the Cobra Terrorist Organization." I added erecting a magnetic barrier so that the bullets coming towards me bounced away harmlessly.

"Just why are they attacking us then?" Scott demanded. "Cobra only ever targets military bases or GIJoe." He added.

"You got me, but if these are Cobra B.A.Ts then I bet they'll listen to their masters." I returned with a small smile before I carefully manipulated my vocal patterns to reflect another's voice. "Battle Android Troopers this is Cobra Commander speaking you are hereby ordered to stand down!" I cried over the din ensuring that every unit would hear me; the firing stopped at once, but only long enough for every BAT in the room to turn their sights on me. "Son of a" I exclaimed seconds before thousands of bullets screamed in towards me.

"I take it then they aren't under Cobra's command." Scott remarked with a slight smirk despite the gravity of the situation he couldn't help his reaction to my failed ploy; in response I let loose a blast of electrical energies effectively destroying the remaining BATs inside and giving us all a bit of breathing room.

"Illyana!" Piotr cried rushing to the fallen form of his sister; fortunately she was not hurt only exhausted to the point of blacking out, the battle outside continued to escalate as the defenses were overwhelmed.

"Come on let's get out there and end this." Scott ordered.

"Hold up." I called out brining the X-Men to a halt. "We can't deal with every damn BAT out there; whoever sent them would have thought to send enough to overwhelm even you guys." I elaborated a germ of an idea hitting me; glancing out the window I made a quick calculation estimate in my head and slightly nodded before whirling back to face the others. "We know they're programmed to respond automatically to any Cobra Officers voices; so why don't we overwhelm their operating protocols?" I mused a small glint entering my eye.

"What you have in mind Mon ami?" Remy asked.

"Well, what were to happen if GIJoe and Cobra began a full scale war right outside on the lawn?" I asked with a smirk.

"How do yah propose tah do that?" Rogue asked eyeing my decidedly unclothed person with a brief look of attraction in her eyes before she snapped back to the predicament at hand.

"Simple really; Ororo we're going to need something to block their sensors." I stated marching towards the front entrance. "If they can't see that all the voices their hearing are actually coming from one man they'll become confused and might actually shut down." I continued just as Ororo began to unleash the fury of a fog bank; the other X-Men eyed me appreciatively they could see that I'd come up with a workable plan that not only limited the danger to everyone present, but actually made me the soul target of the entire swarm of BATs outside.

"Good luck Mon ami." Remy stated clasping my shoulder briefly.

"You sure can come up with something on the spur of the moment." Scott observed smiling at me now. "You do realize we'll be forced to back you up if it doesn't work." He added seriously.

"Yeah I know, I just hope I can remember how all of the people I'm going to have to duplicate sound like." I returned with a small smile.

"Give'em hell Kilowatt." Logan stated before I leapt out into the lawn; taking a few quick breaths I set about performing the most strenuous task I could ever hope to do, switching polarities so I could move fast enough I took up the first voice and shouted as loud as I could

"COBRA!" A hail of voices sounding as one cried.

"YO JOE!" A second group of voices from near the gateway erupted almost simultaneously; now a hail of bullet fire and explosions could be heard as I literally altered my vocal patterns to make it sound like both forces were firing on the other.

"Cobra Commander we've come to get you." Major Bludd shouted from somewhere near the pool; more firepower erupted and now the sound of Cobra Night Ravens' joined the mix as the whirling sounds of helicopter blades countered them.

"Yeehaw!" Wild Bill exclaimed jubilantly. "We're here to take these snakes down."

"To the people in the house." Duke's voice suddenly cried from off to the left of the main thoroughfare. "Please remain calm and do not get involved GIJoe has everything under control."

"You bleedin' Joes got nothin'!" Buzzer cried from close to the entrance as a motorcycle's engines roared. "Come on let's show'em why Zartan chose us!" He added with a whoop.

"Roadblock, Scarlett, Stalker can you get to the Commander?" Mainframe's voice asked sounding impossibly as if it were coming over a communications channel.

"Negative Mainframe, Road Pig has us pinned down." Scarlett replied even as a loud explosion rocked the area.

"Oh pretty, pretty look at what Road Pig has found for Zarana. She will be so pleased." Road Pig stated although he sounded hesitant and for good reason I'd never heard the goon before; cursing myself for picking someone so foolish I decided to go a different route and leapt up onto the roof projecting my voice so it sounded like it was coming from mid-air.

"Cobra forces do not give in, do not surrender! GIJoe will fall here and Cobra shall prove victorious, This I Command!" Serpentor exclaimed before a super-sized explosion erupted from close to the pool.

"Destro, Destro we need a bloody hand here." Major Bludd called out frantically shouting into what I imagined to be a radio.

"Forget it Bludd if our dear Cobra Commander wishes to make deals with mutants I will not go rushing in to blindly bail him out when the deal goes sour." Destro countered via radio; I was getting tired again and wasn't moving as fast as I should be, but suddenly the fog dissipated and I saw that every last BAT had fallen down deactive.

"Oh thank Primus." I muttered in my own voice not surprised to find it was hoarse again. "I didn't even think it was working."

"Yah have a real talent there Sugah." Rogue remarked coming up beside me as she, Scott, Remy, Bobby, Logan and Ororo joined me on the lawn.

"Thanks I pride myself on doing my best." I returned in a whisper swaying on my feet; Rogue caught me heedless of my bare skin and the fact that she hadn't put her gloves on. The others winced thinking I was about to be absorbed; all except for Logan who merely eyed me with a critical stare.

"Ah better get yah back tah yah're bed Sugah, yah look like yah went ten rounds with Apocalypse." She whispered gently lifting me and flying towards the mansion; particularly where my window was located.

"Dat one has all the luck." Remy muttered aside to Bobby.

"Tell me about it." He muttered with a chuckle. "You go Al." He whispered not the least bit envious towards the other man.

* * *

"This is a J Three action news broadcast." Jameson stated over millions of Television sets around the world. "Not more then half-an hour ago in downtown Manhattan an army of Cobra Battle Android Troopers were stopped from their mindless rampage by the combined efforts of S.H.I.E.L.D forces and The Avengers; yet the question remains why would Cobra be so bold as to attack our city directly? I intend to find out and be the first station to give you the exclusive scoop on Cobra's motives behind this attack." He stated before one particular set was switched off in abject rage; in fact the observer was more than displeased at this particular circumstance. Snatching a small untraceable communications device from the desk beside him he input a certain code and waited impatiently.

"Electrical Conveniences how may we direct your call?" A pleasant sounding woman answered on the other end.

"I wish to speak with the good Doctor." He hissed desperately attempting to remain calm despite what he had just discovered.

"One moment please." The receptionist replied.

"This is" A new voice began minutes later only to be cut off by the darkness in the other man's words.

"Have you seen the news recently?" He asked in a casual sounding tone his true emotional state only hinted at by slight vehemence.

"Of course; rest assured we will find the leak." The voice on the other end proclaimed sounding slightly too nervous.

"And when did you plan on informing me that the new prototype you perfected was missing?" He demanded in a sarcastic filled tone dripping with malice.

"Well I didn't think it was necessary, I mean the twins were looking into it and I thought" The other stuttered desperate to place blame anywhere else, but on his head.

"That is the problem you didn't think!" He snapped gripping the device so tightly that his knuckle began to turn white. "Rest assured you will face the penalty for this, for the moment I am sending someone else to track your thief." He stated eyes narrowing beneath his hooded mask.

"Of course Cobra Commander, I await his arrival." The other droned in a defeated tone.

"Her arrival Mindbender, her." Cobra Commander corrected emphasizing the sex of his chosen tracker before disconnecting the relay.

"Oh shit." Mindbender whispered to no one in particular as his hands began to tremble and he stared at the now silent device.

To Be Continued


	5. Chapter 5 Aftermath

**Author's Notes:** A short update this time I'm afraid, but I'm going a little bit slower this time around because there won't be too much actual action in this story... Well then again there wasn't THAT much action in Of Spiders and Mutants either, but... Anyway...

Usual disclaimer stuff applies, I only own Al, the rest are on loan/borrowed/or whatever since nobody from Marvel has come after me so far.

* * *

The Avengers, Nick Fury, Daredevil and Spider-Man had regrouped at Avengers' mansion now that the danger had passed; for some unknown reason the B.A.Ts had vanished a little after eight-o-clock as suddenly as they'd appeared. Spider-Girl had offered to inform Spider-Man's wife that he'd be late; in private of course, and The Punisher was getting the best medical care S.H.I.E.L.D could offer aboard their helicarrier; he'd suffered numerous lacerations and a few bullets had managed to actually penetrate during the fight.

"I want to know what he's up to and I want to know three days ago!" Fury bellowed into his communicator. "Where'd the Red Skull get those walking garbage piles and why'd he suddenly change his usual M.O!"

"You want me to ask him?" Spider-Man quipped his exhaustion making him forget proper protocol as he took the proffered mug of coffee from Scarlet Witch.

"Pipe down Webs!" Fury snapped resuming his issuing of orders without skipping a beat.

"You must admit it's certainly not like the Skull to just send a hoard of attackers into the city without personally ensuring the missions success." Scarlet Witch observed stifling a yawn as she winced where a particular nasty bruise was rising. "Or to use machines he himself wasn't the master of." She added eliciting several consenting nods of agreement from her peers.

"Maybe that sat photo was faked." Daredevil offered reaching for his own coffee without as much as a glance.

"I doubt that." Iron-Man countered sounding as worn out as the next man. "It's pretty hard to fake that ugly mug." He added with a good natured chuckle.

"WHAT?" Nick suddenly exclaimed so loud that it cut off all further speculation. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN B.A.Ts WERE ATTACKING THE XAVIER' PLACE?" Everyone quickly turned their eyes to the monitors as Fury quickly jacked his communicator into the main console yet again and an image appeared. The Xavier' mansion in Westchester appeared peaceful enough; unless you counted the hundreds of BATS littering the grounds and the damaged defense mechanisms sitting out in the open.

"So that's what he was doing." Cap exclaimed. "Our fight was just a decoy to keep us from coming to their aid. I trust no one was hurt." He added in a sympathetic tone.

"GIJOE AND COBRA FORCES WERE HEARD IN THE VICINITY!" Fury bellowed once more his disbelief obvious.

"This is getting complicated." Hawkeye observed only to be silenced by a glare from Fury.

"Something doesn't add up." Wonder Man chimed up causing everyone to turn eyes on him. "If GIJoe had been operating in the vicinity they would have had to report it to S.H.I.E.L.D first; that's how it always goes." He elaborated.

"Holograms?" Spidey wondered hopping across the table and taking a closer look.

"You said their forces were heard in the vicinity." Daredevil remarked. "Were they seen?" He wondered.

"No Storm created a giant fog bank; literally blanketed the entire mansion and the grounds." Fury replied relaying the information he was getting from the junior officer on the other end.

"Then perhaps what we have here is a clever ruse; Battle Android Troopers aren't known for their intelligence." Daredevil returned with a slight smirk.

"None of the current roster of X-Men has vocal related powers." Fury countered with a sigh as he began to feel a headache coming on.

"Shadow!" Spider-Man blurted; everyone turned to him now and he seemed to shirk away from all the stares he was getting. "That armor clad guy that took down Electro five days ago; he's a pretty big techno-geek if that armor is any indication and I happen to know for a fact that his real name is Allan Rutherford and he's a house guest staying with the X-Men." He elaborated; the Avengers eyed Fury now some with an inquisitive stare the others with knowing looks.

"That doesn't make sense why would the Skull target him?" Vision wondered speaking up for the group; once again all eyes turned to Spidey.

"He's here working on a mission for Roma." He revealed.

"So that's why his past is so clean." Hank exclaimed slapping his hand on the table and taking the others by surprise.

"I think it's time we had a talk with this Allan Rutherford." Fury stated disconnecting his communicator yet again. "Cap, Widow, Wanda, and Pietro you're coming with me the rest of you finish cleaning up the other B.A.Ts I'm going to have to send some of our clean up crews to pick up the scrap littering Xavier's yard now." He added lighting up another cigar as he climbed to his feet and led his chosen entourage towards his private transport.

To Be Continued


	6. Chapter 6 Visitations

**Author's Notes:** I've been neglecting my updating again, ah well to make up for it here is a very nice chapter loaded with personality and characterization as well as the introduction to my other Character.

Usual disclaimer applies; I own nothing from Marvel and am just borrowing it, Al is mine as is the new character ascociated with him, and if you've been silently reading my stuff since the beginning then I would greatly appreciate a review now folks, because this new character is very special to me and I'd love to know how everone feels about her... So R&R...

* * *

I awoke once more; this time it was only thirty minutes since I'd last drifted off to sleep and this time it was loud voices that had woken me up, sighing as I caught my name being brandied around I climbed to my feet shrugged into Hank's shirt and headed out of the broken doorframe.  
Grumbling to myself I trudged down the stairs and made my way to the den; my arrival caused all except the Professor surprise however my glare was quite indicative of just how annoyed I was.

"Can't a guy regenerate in peace around here?" I demanded ignoring the shocked looks shot my way from the two strange women sitting across from the small band of X-Men who had chosen to greet our visitors. My eyes played across each of them; Captain America was easy to recognize even without his uniform, Nick Fury was also easy to put a name to his face, but the others weren't wearing their costumes. Apparently they'd decided to change before arriving, though I knew they had to be members of the Avengers since it was only natural what with Cap here.

"That's Rutherford?" The white haired silver eyed six foot male blurted from his position leaning against the doorframe. "I was expecting another shrimp."

"Pietro." The auburn haired blue eyed woman sitting opposite Cap chastised; ok now I knew who one of the others was, so this was Quicksilver, funny I wasn't expecting a near carbon copy of the X-Men Evolution appearance for this one.

"What the hell does he mean by regenerate?" Fury demanded addressing the others as if I wasn't there.

"It means recharge my energies; regain the lost power I've expended fighting those Battle Android Troopers." I snapped. "It means just what it implies mister big shot S.H.I.E.L.D commander." I added eliciting a snort of amusement from Logan.

"This is someone Roma has entrusted the care of our Earth to?" Fury retorted in disbelief. "And I thought she'd pick people more capable."

"Watch it Nicholas." I growled knowing full well the man before me hadn't been called that in a good long while. "You keep that up and I might have to get rough wit' ya and believe me I can still take you on even at twenty percent power."

"Whatever, I didn't come here to get into a pissing contest with you." Fury intoned with an indifferent shrug. "I came to ask you a serious question, why the hell would the Red Skull be after you?" Everyone present; at least the X-Men gasped as they now regarded me with newfound wonder, as well as the realization of the gravity of the situation we all now found ourselves in. And for good reason; the Red Skull was a fanatic hell bent on seeing to the completion of Hitler's grand design, if the source of this Chaos had managed to gain control of such a twisted psychopath we could be faced with any number of threats. I slumped down into one of the easy chairs heedless of the fact that Hank's shirt rode up slightly as I fell into a slumped and decidedly exhausted pose. This was just one of those days; I seriously wanted to just go back to bed and forget about everything for a good five days, but it just wasn't possible.

"Why do I always get the slag assignments?" I muttered ignoring the presence of the others for a brief few minutes. "Honestly what it is it about me that I always have to deal with all the problems that they want to throw my way? I ain't a bleeding hero I'm just a regular Joe trying to make it in this mixed up game they call life and here I am always thrust onto the front lines." I added suddenly feeling a good three hundred years older; surprisingly a hand came down on my shoulder and I looked up to see Rogue beside me again.

"Do Ah have tah tie yah to yah're bed?" She demanded her concern and anger at finding me here pretty obvious.

"Not really." I returned with a small smile. "You can blame him for this time; I just can't sleep when people are arguing about me." I added indicating Fury as I spoke. "Look I just got fixed up after having a three quarter inch pipe shoved into my heart; I just finished single handedly distracting a horde of B.A.Ts by faking a big fight between Cobra and GIJoe and I am seriously in need of some God damn sleep, can you come back tomorrow?" I asked not caring if the pleadingness of my tone was reflected in my eyes.

"We can't do that." Captain America stated. "The Red Skull could make his next move any minute now that he's failed the first time and we have to be ready." He continued the passion clear in his voice.

"That's the problem with you so called heroes; you're always trying to second guess your opponents days before they're even ready to make another move." A very familiar voice stated from seemingly everywhere and nowhere at once; in a blinding flash Q appeared before the group and everyone took up defensive stances, I on the other hand was blind with sudden rage and I leapt at the alien clawing for him with my fingers. He vanished in a flash and appeared behind me as I slammed into the floor and groaned at the sudden pain I felt as my wrist broke. "Come now is that any way to treat your benefactor?" He wondered arching his eyebrow in bemusement.

"You have some nerve showing your face in front of me again you God damn bastard!" I shouted leaping back to my feet despite my bruises and whirling to face him; he held up his hands in a show of peace and smiled.

"Truce, truce." He began. "Come now did you really think I'd stop keeping an eye on you after you left our humble universe?" He wondered; I growled swaying only briefly on my feet with exhaustion before energy began to crackle at my fingertips.

"Speak vermin." I hissed.

"I came here to inform you that you have two days starting tomorrow morning to prepare before Red Skull makes his move, as you so eloquently put it." Q began with a warm smile glancing over to Fury. "And also because Roma has been breathing down my back for the past two months; my time." I stared in shock the energy vanishing as realization that Amy had been without me for two whole months; however the shock quickly escalated to anger again and despite my better judgment I dove at the alien once again.

"DAMN YOU!" I screamed as he vanished once again and appeared behind me this time for some strange reason a small valise was at his feet.

"Look, Roma and I have had a big powwow; I guess you'd call it." He explained. "And despite my better judgment I've agreed to allow certain privileges for as long as you stay here on this Earth." Q continued looking down at me once again as I slowly managed to get back up to my knees; the God damn jerk sounded as if he was doing me a favor. "For this first trial run you get two days; the same two days it'll take Skull boy to prepare for his next move, next time who knows maybe it'll be longer." He added with a shrug; I glanced at him incapable of comprehending just what he was getting at, Q smirked openly at me as he held up his hand preparing to snap his fingers once again. "Use the time you have to your advantage my padawan." He added mocking me with the term used by the Jedi for their apprentices; with a quick snap he was gone once more in a flash, but in his place there stood someone else...  
My eyes fell upon this person incomprehensible at first; however as the young girl cocked her head to one side she raised her left hand to her right wrist and pressed a button on her watch. The ordinary brown haired, blue eyed three foot four eight year old human girl was replaced instantly with a very familiar aquamarine haired; gold eyed three foot four eight year old Catarian.

"Hello Daddy." She greeted shyly; I fell from my knees onto my ass hard and I winced slightly at the sudden feeling of sprained tailbone, but I was completely in shock. The girl was visibly shaken by my reaction and the fear sparked in her eyes; throwing away all inhibitions she rushed over to me and wrapped me up in a hug nuzzling her cheek into my chest as tears began to flow. "Oh Daddy I missed you so much; it's been so hard without you." She wailed gripping me tightly as if I would vanish if she let me go; my arms encircled the girl automatically and I began to cry myself, choking back the tears I patted the young girl on the back to comfort her. Fury, Pietro, Wanda, Cap and the unknown woman all eyed us with clear confusion; while Rogue, the Professor, Logan, Scott and Jean looked at the both of us in shocked surprise. Rogue was even fighting back the urge to cry herself; I let out a small sigh before moving to comfort the child.

"There, there little one it's ok now; everything's ok." I whispered my raw emotions causing me to forget where I was and who was present; the young girl choked as she cried and continued to just hug me nuzzling me over and over again. I found myself just staring at her; once again familiarizing myself with her appearance, marveling at her three foot long tail. Smiling at her lightly fur tipped pointed ears; gently stroking her hair mindful of the twin horns situated upon her brow... Her slitted feline inspired eyes looked up at me glistening with her long unshed tears before once again vanishing as she buried her face in my chest. My heart swelled with both pride and pity; my own hot tears continued to trickle down my cheek as I wondered why?

"That nice Roma lady said I could visit you here." She explained in between sobs as a small smile blossomed on her features. "She said you weren't doing a very good job without me." She added looking up at me once more with her cat-like eyes shining due to her tears; I burst out into a hearty laugh at that and just shook my head.

"Trust an Omniversal Guardian to find a loop hole." I muttered. "I would have never thought of visitation rights."

"She said Q wouldn't let me come because of something you still had to do back on your home; she said it wouldn't do for me to be there making you worry." Amy stated quite serious. "But she said she'd keep trying to convince Q that it wouldn't matter if I was there or not you'd still be worrying." She added with a tiny sigh.

"Warning energy levels at fifteen percent; regeneration required at once or further loss of energy will result in permanent shut down." My watch suddenly blared; I'd forgotten I hadn't taken it off yet, Amy's little face took on an air of serious disappointment and slight anger as she now glared up at me.

"Daddy; you're not taking very good care of yourself." She snapped backing away and shoving me a little, causing me to fall over; then she grabbed me by my arm and actually managed to force me to my feet. "You are going straight to bed right now, no arguments I will not lose you because these stupid people don't respect your needs." She added glaring daggers at the other occupants of the room; I chuckled weakly and shook my head marveling at how much she sounded like an adult in her own right.

"Yes mother." I quipped; she looked up at me in sudden embarrassment and her cheeks began to flush.

"Daddy; don't tease." She murmured averting her eyes; I kept from laughing once more and hauled Amy up into my arms and turned to the Professor.

"Ah, I'll just go get some sleep now if it's all right with you Fury." I added turning my head to eye the head of S.H.I.E.L.D; Fury merely nodded speechless with everything he'd just witnessed.

"Let me help." Rogue offered bending down and claiming the valise from the floor; she eyed it curiously and Amy shot her a look that clearly said, be careful.

"Thanks Rogue...Still though it is good to see you Amy, but Q's timing could really have been better." I whispered as the girl shifted in my grip and wrapped her feline inspired tail around my waist as she often did when I carried her.

"Oh I insisted Daddy." She explained. "I already knew you weren't getting enough sleep because Roma told me, so I said he'll never be any good to you if you don't let me come and force him to get some sleep." She added eliciting a smile from me.

"I take it Roma sent your bed to my room." I added as we began to walk up stairs.

"No; she said it wouldn't do to have too much Twenty Fourth Century technology over here, so we're gonna have to share." She explained; I nearly lost my footing at that and caught Rogues' little smile most likely due to the expression of horror that had sprung up on my face. "Oh Daddy, relax." Amy chastised with a sigh as we vanished out of hearing range.

"I won't pretend to know what just happened here." Fury began climbing to his feet. "But that guy doesn't sit right with me; still I hardly think he'd send that little girl here if we were in any danger of being attacked by the Skull before the two day limit is up." He added as the Avengers moved to join him.

"Indeed; from what Allan has told us that particular entity is many things, but I do believe he can be trusted." Xavier added moving alongside Fury to see these guests out.

"We'll be back after breakfast to straighten things out with Rutherford and go over a clear cut battle plan, but other then that I don't think we'll interfere with his visit." Fury added careful to hide his smile; Xavier nodded in understanding and filed the information away for future use, the Avengers bade their hosts a quick farewell before vanishing through the entrance.

To Be Continued


	7. Chapter 7 Rogue & Amy

**Author's Notes:** Strange, not a single review commenting on this in ages... Ah well, I've been neglecting this of late and for that I appologize, but certain things popped up and I didn't feel like updating. To make up for it, I'm updating twice today.

The usual disclaimer applies, I own nobody from Marvel, I'm just borrowing them. Alain Desrochers and his daughter are completely mine; although technically, the baby Amy was created from is owned by Paramount and Star Trek. The femme fatale mentioned in this chapter is also an OC created specifically by me for Earth 929... I believe that's everything, please folks R&R I really want to know what you think of Amy now that you've semi-officialy met her.

* * *

She was a knockout; a gorgeous full body figure with flaming red hair and a creamy complexion as well as eyes of the deepest shade of emerald, but her eyes... The steward had never seen eyes like them in all his thirty-five years; she'd arrived via private plane to San Diego airport and had managed to hop onto the latest connecting flight to New York she possibly could. Her eyes though; they were barren, lifeless and he didn't want to talk with this woman at all, but she refused to co-operate.

"Pardon me Miss, but we are descending on the airport now and I insist that you buckle your seatbelt." He stated for the fifth time since the light had come on; she stared at him with those cold dead eyes and at last complied despite the fact that he was trembling with fright. "Thank you." He stammered moving to take his own seat before it proved too late; that was one passenger he'd be glad to be rid of.

* * *

As I lay down upon my bed Rogue helped the young girl empty her valise into the drawers; the two were silent hoping that I'd fall asleep quickly, but some part of me just wouldn't go to sleep I kept glancing at Amy as if she would vanish if I closed my eyes no matter how briefly. She seemed to pick up on my trepidations and finally turned to me with a pout; she crawled up onto the bed and sat beside me reaching out with her tiny hand to brush it through my hair.

"Go to sleep Daddy, I'll still be here in the morning." She whispered soothingly; I didn't understand how she did it, must have been part of her telepathic abilities because the next thing I knew I was actually fast asleep and dreaming.

"Yah're quite the affectionate little girl." Rogue observed taking a seat in the easy chair and eyeing the young Catarian. Amy smiled a little at this and merely shrugged; Rogue returned the smile wondering if Amy was going to say anything.

"My species evolved from felines; we're all quite affectionate. It's just natural instinct." She whispered brushing her father's hair in a gentle repetitive motion. "People didn't mind back aboard Voyager." She added suddenly eyeing the unknown woman with trepidation.

"Relax little Sugah, we're as open minded as the next person." Rogue hastily explained with a slight smile. "Ah'll let yah in on a little secret." She added in a conspiratorial whisper. "Ah think Ah'm fallin' fer yah're dad." Amy smiled up at the woman and looked down at the sleeping form of her father with a grin; she giggled slightly before looking back up to address the woman.

"That's good to know, Daddy could use a good relationship with someone like you." She stated with a playful smirk. "And you could keep an eye on him to make sure he's getting enough sleep." She added grinning widely; Rogue chuckled and moved over to the young Catarian ruffling her hair playfully before she headed towards the still blown out doorway.

"Good nahght little Sugah; don't stay up too late keepin' that eye o' yours on yah're father." She stated with a wink before leaving; Amy merely smiled before she hopped off the bed and slipped into the bathroom to change into her pajamas, which she'd kept aside when packing away the outfits she'd brought with her. After changing she looked around in mild bemusement at the shattered remains of the door before she crawled back up beside her father and snuggled under the covers beside him as she'd done a few times before when she'd either had very bad nightmares or when she hadn't even had a regeneration bed of her own. She knew a lot of adults would frown on this sort of behavior between a father and daughter, but she really didn't care what others thought; as far as she was concerned she was old enough to make her own decisions. Besides as her grandmother had stated her species' young often slept with the parents until they were old enough to defend themselves from the many predators of their home planet. Even though they now lived safely in houses the instinct was still strong and quite frankly it hurt; she didn't understand why, her grandmother hadn't any answers when she'd gone to visit her. Aunt Serenity thought it was just something in her own imagination; anyway it didn't matter she'd be damned if she only regenerated when her daddy wasn't around she needed it just as much as he did after all.  
Curling up into the crook of her fathers arm she wrapped her tail around his waist and nuzzled her cheek against his chest giving him one last loving look before closing her eyes and allowing herself to drift into the familiarity of blissful slumber.

To Be Continued


	8. Chapter 8 Breakfast with Amy

**Author's Notes: **As promised, the second update... All of the usual disclaimer stuff applies, yadda, yadda, yadd... R&R folks.

* * *

It was another busy day in New York; despite the countless millions caused in property damage alone life continued on it's course as usual, the Scorpion broke out of jail again only to be stopped once more by Spider-Man with a timely assist from Spider-Girl. J.J.J printed another scandalous article about super powered individuals; however most people were more interested in reading the exclusive report on the events of last night, Ben Urich a reporter for the self same paper aided in cracking the case on another arm of the Kingpins' organization. And the X-Men out in Westchester had awoken early so that they could repair the damaged defense batteries before the Avengers arrived; unfortunately there resident guest wasn't capable of lending a hand since he was still regenerating after all of the events last night he deserved to sleep in later. 

"Tell me again why Kilowatt gets' out of repair duties?" Bobby grunted as he and Remy held one of the downed defense batteries steady while Scott worked on fusing it back to its mount. Usually they'd just replace the damaged equipment, but the B.A.T attack hadn't really caused too much damage towards these particular units so merely fusing it back together would work for a change.

"He just lucky I guess." Remy replied with a slight shrug. "Come on Mon Ami hurry dis up Gambit has quite an itch." He called out to Scott fighting the urge to scratch his nose as he briefly shifted his footing.

"Well I'd be able to go a lot faster if the two of you were holding this steady." Scott snapped switching the focus on his visor for the tenth time.

"Pardon me if we don't all have super strength." Bobby griped watching as Rogue effortlessly straightened a second defense battery for Hank.

"Here let me." A tiny voice offered as the little girl who had appeared last night approached the three grown men rubbing sleep from her eyes. "Honestly the way you three were acting you'd think it weighed a ton." She added grasping a hold of the battery with her own gravitational abilities and holding it steady for Scott.

"Well now this is something new." Bobby quipped. "We're getting lectured by an eight year old."

"Two." Amy corrected automatically. "And besides you're right outside my Daddy's window and I was afraid you'd wake him up with all your bantering." She stated as Scott finished welding the battery in place at last.

"Thank you." He stated with genuine gratitude as he ruffled the kids hair; she beamed up at the X-Man before turning to watch Rogue and Hank finishing there work.

"Is Illyana ok?" Remy wondered concern for the younger X-Man apparent in his tone.

"She's just fine; she was pretty worn out though I'm glad Rutherford was around to help otherwise she might not have been so lucky." Scott replied leading the quartet back towards the mansion; the three adults weren't aware that Amy was trailing after them curiously listening in; however, Jean caught sight of the new arrival as she stood awaiting her husband's return in the doorway and smiled despite herself at how adorable she was acting.

"Why hello there little one." She greeted bending down to look the girl in the eyes; Amy shyly averted her eyes and shuffled her feet nervously as the three men looked back to find she had been following them. "You must be hungry." She added sagely.

"Yes I'm quite famished." Amy concurred with a tiny nod.

"Well then why don't we get you something to eat for breakfast; what'll it be?" Jean asked taking the girl by the hand and leading her into the kitchen.

"Anything raw and bloody." She returned in a quiet tone; Jean regarded her incredulously and Amy smiled nervously revealing her sharp teeth. "Didn't Daddy tell you I was a carnivore?" She wondered feeling nervous and conscientious all at the same time as everyone's eyes were now on her.

"Ah; no I'm afraid he glossed over that part." Jean hastily recovered helping the girl into a seat. "Why don't you stay there and I'll see what I can find." She requested with a warm smile while Remy, Bobby and Scott saw to their own breakfast needs now that Kurt, Jubilee and Kitty had freed up some kitchen space.

"Guten Morgen Mein Child." Kurt greeted eyeing Amy with a kind and gentle expression on his face; Amy in turn stared up at the mutant in wonder and fascination, she hopped off her seat and approached him tentatively. Reaching up she grasped his hand with her own tiny one and proceeded to feel the oddness of his skin; Kurt smiled at the reaction and teasingly tapped the child on the shoulder with his tail.

"Oh cool." She whispered using her own tail to tap Kurt on the back since she wasn't tall enough to reach his shoulder. "I thought only we could use our tails effectively, then again there are a lot of species with tails I've never met before." She amended blushing slightly before returning to her seat as Jean finally managed to find a suitable meal for the carnivore. Amy smiled gratefully at the young woman and proceeded to cut her meat with a knife and fork; her father had taught her to always eat politely even if her instincts and stomach were crying for her to just dig in and let the blood pool down her throat. The X-Men watched the child fascinatingly until she became highly conscientious and shot a glare up at the adults around her; they quickly averted their eyes and got to their own breakfasts or cleaning their sullied dishes.  
As the child resumed eating Professor Xavier entered the room and promptly proceeded to prepare his usual morning tea; he glanced briefly at the child and frowned slightly when he saw what she required for proper nourishment, but failed to voice his opinion. Amy leant back as she seemed to get a sudden look on her face; glancing over to the doorway she smiled widely and giggled a little.

* * *

I slipped into the kitchen with bleary eyes; I knew I wasn't at full power yet, but I figured I wouldn't be fighting any time soon and seventy-five percent was a far cry better then twenty percent. Making a quick breakfast I sat down beside the little girl ignoring her giggles and rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I began to eat; Amy's tail reached up and rubbed my shoulder affectionately seeing as her hands were still preoccupied with her own breakfast of raw steak. 

"Morning Daddy." She greeted with a smile; I sighed with great joy at hearing those two little words once more.

"Morning sweetie." I returned rubbing her head affectionately; she grimaced as her hair was mussed once again and fought to get it under control. "I see you woke up first; you didn't fix my door did you?" I wondered thinking that's just the thing Amy would want to do; she loved me so much she wanted to help me a lot. Amy shook her head and pointed towards the Professor.

"I think he had one of the others replace it while we were still sleeping." She explained pouting a little in concentration as she tackled a particularly tough section of meat.

"The Professor; or simply Professor, he's like Captain Janeway." I stated lecturing the girl on the proper way to address Charles; or at least the proper way I felt addressing him should be, I was too nervous to call him Charles, Chuck or Charlie and simply calling him Xavier wasn't recommended.

"Oh sorry Daddy, I didn't know there was a protocol." Amy apologized finishing up her meal; I eyed her in a new light as I suddenly realized she was going to need her own supply of food while she was here, since it wouldn't do to have her eating any and all raw meats set aside by the others for lunches or dinners.

"I guess I'm going to have to go into the city and get you some food." I began with a small sigh as once again I found myself sub-consciously ruffling her hair. "Man it's time's like this I really miss the replicators." I added adopting a new vocal tone; Amy giggled because she recognized it as belonging to Rattrap while the others eyed me curiously. "Actually I wouldn't mind showing you off to Spider-Man and Spider-Girl." I added with a grin; Amy eyed me inquisitively and I merely laughed finishing the last remnants of my own breakfast.

"Why would you want me to meet Spider-People?" She asked. "Don't you have arachnophobia?" I couldn't help myself at that I burst out laughing hard and loud; Amy pouted in confusion at my reaction, but I couldn't clarify my meaning because I was simply laughing too much to even get a word in.

"Kilowatt ain't referin' to actual spiders' kiddo." Logan explained for me as he joined us in the kitchen. "Spider-Man and Spider-Girl are regular people." He elaborated fetching himself some breakfast and eyeing the child's empty though still bloodied plate with a look of alarm that vanished just as quickly as it appeared.

"Oh." Amy remarked cocking her head to one side as she often did; I was finally calming down enough to voice my own thoughts on the subject.

"Spider-Man has the proportionate strength and speed of a spider; he also makes a chemical compound that acts like spider webbing and he's pretty darn agile. He can crawl up buildings with his hands and feet." I rattled off in a droning monologue simply because I'd entered what Amy liked to call my explanation mode. "Spider-Girl is his daughter from another possible future alternate universe deal who was handed down his powers and decided to take up the mantle of Spider-Girl since her dad had retired... At least that's how I remember it from those two issues of the comic I picked up when I was in my buy every Marvel comic in the world phase." I finished smiling a little at the memory of that particular phase.

"Why would you want to do that Daddy?" Amy wondered sounding actually interested.

"I was just getting into the comic book world at the time and foolishly believed I could handle every title they dished out." I replied with a little shrug. "Plus a lot of those comics actually did turn out to be interesting...But buying them all was a pretty dumb idea, I mean the price for one comic alone is four bucks, multiply that by fifteen or twenty titles and it can definitely get expensive." I continued taking both our plates over to the sink to clean off; Amy scrunched up her forehead in thought and a few minutes later she let out a whistle.

"No kidding Daddy; you really did have problems with spending." She remarked hopping out of her seat and indicating Logan should take it; the X-Man raised an eyebrow in bemusement, but sat down with his meal and a glass of water.

"You're pretty smart." Scott observed eyeing the child with what I couldn't say since his eyes were hidden behind those glasses of his, which he must have switched into since I could have sworn he'd been wearing his visor when I first came in.

"I know." Amy acknowledged with a sigh; she slumped back down at the table now seated to the left of Jean and I caught a hint of tears slowly trickling down her cheeks.

"Has somebody been picking on you because of that?" I demanded going into protective father mode.

"Worse Daddy, none of the other children want to play with me." Amy replied openly crying now. "I love you a lot, you know, but sometimes I wish you'd never assimilated me." She added in a hushed tone; her words hurt more then I would have thought and I dropped my plate in shock, the sound of breaking glass snapped me out of my sudden funk and I squirmed in embarrassment for losing my calm.

"Oh I'm so sorry." I exclaimed hastily beginning to pick up the glass.

"It's quite all right." The Professor whispered from my right as he patted my arm in understanding. "_It's rarely easy to hear that from your own children; even if they aren't yours biologically_." He added telepathically; Amy brushed away her tears and rushed over to me wrapping her tiny arms around my waist, despite her height she always managed to hug me tightly.

"I'm sorry too Daddy, I didn't mean it." She stated; I glanced around at the X-Men as they watched this little drama unfolding and merely shook my head letting out a tiny sigh, wrapping my arms around the girl and picking her up so that we were eye to eye I regarded her knowingly.

"You want to know a secret?" I asked in a false conspiratorial tone; Amy nodded looking at me in eager anticipation. "I wasn't liked by the kids when I was your age either, they teased me a lot and I was always moving around so keeping friends was hard. And I was smarter then I appeared to be too, just because I had such a hard time with French nobody ever found out about it until after I graduated." I stated playfully ruffling her hair once more; she looked at me in disbelief and I grinned. "Don't believe me? Ask the dishes." I added in a playful tone; Amy burst into a fit of giggles at that and I smiled warmly at her reaction, Scott had quirked an eyebrow and Logan had snorted with my obviously strange parenting behavior, but I merely shrugged it aside.

"Well now ain't this a pretty picture." Nick Fury suddenly stated from the rear entrance to the kitchen; I glanced over to him with a slight frown wondering when he'd gotten here, Fury tossed his half-finished cigar out onto the lawn and entered followed by Captain America, Iron-Man, Wonder Man, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Thor, Vision, The Wasp, Giant Man and that same woman I didn't recognize. "But we do have something important to discuss." He reminded offering a polite greeting to the Professor; Amy was eyeing Fury with open hostility and she stuck out her tongue at him when his back was turned causing me to chuckle.

"I suppose it's time for strategizing then." I remarked lowering Amy to the ground.

"Daddy, don't go." She pleaded startling me when I couldn't get her to let go of my neck; I sighed and tried to argue the point, but one look from her fear filled eyes and my heart burst all over again.

"Ok, ok you can sit in." I relented hefting her back up into my arms and shifting her a little so she was more comfortable.

"Now wait just one damn minute." Fury countered whirling on us; a very low growl from Amy took him by complete surprise as well as the sight of her fangs barred and still bloodied from her recent meal. "Oh fine she can be present, but she'd better be quiet." He growled surprising me with how easy he'd given in; I strongly doubted it had anything to do with her expression; the X-Men were finished with breakfast anyway so they all rose to their feet and led the Avengers and Fury into the Mansion proper.

"Where are we going that'll fit all these people?" I asked in a low tone as I caught up to Logan.

"There's a place we can use." Logan returned with a grunt as he reached out and tousled Amy's hair in a show of respect. "You sure know how to pick'em." He added with a genuine smile.

To Be Continued


	9. Chapter 9 Meetings and Plans

**Author's Notes:** I don't know why I'm even inclined to continue posting this story with no new reviews and apparently nobody interested in it whatsoever, but I hate to leave a job half done. (At least when I've actually taken the time and effort to type the entire story up.)

Therefore without further ado I give you my latest chapter, with the usual disclaimer warnings; the character of Marissa Fairborne is semi-owned by me, the name belongs to another character in the GIJoe/Transformers Cartoon Universe. But I've taken that name to use with one of my OCs because I really enjoyed it and wanted to play around with the backstory of the character for Earth 929. Everything else aside from Al and Amy belongs to Marvel or their respective proprietors/owners.

* * *

The head offices of Extensive Enterprises located in downtown Manhattan were not what you might expect from a casual glance at the exterior of the building; every employee had their own private office and one section of the parking garage was actually a secret escape facility with Cobra vehicles. But all of this did not matter to the extremely attractive young woman who had just entered the main offices of the two C.E.Os'; all that mattered to her was getting past the annoying looking secretary who was stereotypically chewing a wad of gum and listening to something over her headphones. 

"We thank you for this offer Mister Raymond." A voice could be heard as the twins neared the entrance to their office.

"But we are no longer interested in the pursuit of either Starlight Music or Misfits Music." The second twin finished for his brother as both of them opened the door; a slightly older man with dark brown hair emerged carrying his briefcase with him, his tie was rumpled and his suit was full of creases. His face appeared full of worry lines as well and he tried to keep the false smile of good cheer on his features as he bade farewell to the twins shaking each one's hand.

"How am I going to explain this to Pizzazz?" He muttered to himself as he brushed past the woman without as much as a glance.

"Ah Ms. Fairborne." Xamot began cheerfully; apparently neither of them was at all surprised to find her about to barge into their office.

"Mindbender warn... Told us you were due to arrive." Tomax finished, as always the twins were speaking as one mind in two bodies. Disturbing to some, but Marissa Fairborne was disturbed by nothing anymore; years of intense conditioning by Big Boa had seen to that. "Here are the files concerning the missing B.A.T prototype." Tomax now began passing a thick folder to her as the trio entered the office proper and she presumed to take a seat behind one of the twins desks'.

"We trust they'll be more help to you." Xamot continued preparing a glass of fine cognac to steady his nerves as he was hit with the full might of this particular operatives stare; though he kept up the appearance that it wasn't fazing him at all. "As we told Mindbender..."

"We had little time to dwell on the matter." Tomax finished moving to resume his seat behind his own desk and swiftly silenced the ringing telephone.

"I doubt I will need them." She stated disdainfully in her cold emotionless tone; tossing the files back onto the desk after an impassioned glance through the pages she rose and stalked towards the large office windows glancing out at the Twin towers easily visible from this vantage point. "What of your spy in the S.H.I.E.L.D organization?" She demanded.

"She has reported that the Avengers are undergoing some form of strategy meeting with Fury and the X-Men even as we speak; she is uncertain why, but she believes it is to do with the BAT situation." Both literally replied as one; jumping over the others words in their haste to inform the young woman and get her out of here as swiftly as possible.

"Then they obviously must know who is controlling these units." She stated sneering. "I am surprised your spy could not glean this information from her position." She added turning to regard the twins with that same cold disdainful look.

"It is most difficult to get spies within that particular branch of the governments' funded organizations." Xamot supplied merely for the sake of polite conversation because he could see that his brother was itching to hurl her from the window, which would not do, she was the Commander's favorite pet after all.

"Then we shall have to ask one of them directly." She returned resuming her glance at the New York City skyline.

"How, might we ask?" Tomax queried for the both of them; she turned back to face them both and smiled sweetly, a highly disturbing sight on this cold blooded assassin.

"Excuse me, Captain America I'm with the Daily Bugle doing a follow up on the BAT incident could you possibly grant me the favor of answering a few questions?" She recited in a honey sounding tone; both twins visibly shuddered at this side of the assassin fearing it more then they would if she'd pulled a gun on them.

"That." Tomax began before entirely grasping what he was about to say.

"Is most effective." Xamot hastily concluded covering for his brother's almost blunder; she smiled, sinisterly this time and quickly strode from the room. Both twins shared a disturbed glance before resuming their own particular jobs' needs; Xamot pressed the caller switch and requested the next appointment be sent in. "Ah, Mister Fisk." He greeted politely as a rather tall balding man in a three piece white suit entered the room.

* * *

The room in question was located on the same level as the med-bay; it was loaded with computer equipment and a fancy looking table that reminded me of the strategy device they'd used in the movie. Unlike the room in the movie however this room was three times larger; had numerous seating arrangements and wasn't completely stark sterile metal walls.  
Kurt, Scott, Hank, Remy, Ororo, Bobby, Jean, Rogue and Professor Xavier took up seats on the left side of the room; while Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Iron-Man, Wasp, Giant-Man, Vision, Hawkeye, Fury, Wonder Man and that still unknown woman sat on the right. Quicksilver wouldn't sit down he chose to stand leaning against the wall; while Thor took up a stationary position beside Fury and Cap as sort of an honor guard.  
It didn't really matter though since there was only one chair left; I took it hesitantly and Amy hopped up into my lap wrapping her tail around my waist so she wouldn't fall off. I smiled briefly at having her presence here and wrapped my arms over her tiny waist both to ensure her safety perched as she was and also because there were no arm rests for me to use. 

"So how exactly do you propose to deal with those B.A.Ts'?" Fury wondered. "Because you do realize that next time Skull is going to send everything he's got to take down Rutherford."

"If he could harm me I'd be on the first flight out of here faster then you could say spit fire." I quipped. "However the others don't have the luxury of nigh-immortality." I added in a low breath so as not to be heard.

"That's all well and good fer ya Kilowatt, but we're gonna need a strategy." Logan retorted with a snort.

"Yes and we can't have the Red Skull escaping should you manage to turn the tide on him." Cap added truthfully.

"So we're what? All going to take on those BATs?" Pietro wondered scoffing at the notion of teaming up.

"We've joined forces before." Kurt observed sagely.

"Yeah, but the Skull is our priority not yours." Pietro shot back.

"So what, you want me to hang around Avenger's Mansion for a few days, so he attacks your heavily fortified base in the middle of downtown Manhattan?" I remarked with a smirk. "Real good for all those innocent bystanders." I added in a mocking tone.

"Rutherford is right, it's better to keep the battle here." Scott stated. "Then the only danger would be to our two teams."

"A wise plan, but even with both the Avengers and The X-Men working in tandem we're talking about a good seventy five thousand units alone." Vision reminded; Amy squirmed a little in my lap at that and I felt her fear, not as clear as usual she was still keeping our telepathic link tightly shut, but I could catch flashes.

"We've got a thunder god on our team, plus some of the mightiest of Earths' heroes I think we can manage." I spoke up.

"And let us not forget the possible aid of S.H.I.E.L.D." Hank reminded turning to Fury.

"Sorry no dice; most of my men and equipment still need to get repaired or medical treatment after that last assault." Fury informed. "We'd be on our own."

"Terrific." Bobby muttered. "We should just put up a big sign on the front lawn that says Welcome Red Skull; enter here."

"Do you always see the bright side?" Iron-Man quipped probably smiling under that helmet of his.

"Handling those BATs could be as simple as letting Rutherford use that same ploy from last night." Ororo suggested.

"No dice." I began shaking my head. "As the old axiom proves; fool me once shame on me, fool me twice shame on you." I recited. "Skull will have fixed that little program glitch, which is probably why we have a two day time window. You know it can't be easy to reprogram that many BATs' not to respond to Cobra Officers as they did." I added with a sigh.

"What about your gravity power Mon Ami?" Remy asked. "Couldn't you make dem all lighter or somethin'?"

"Negative; manipulating how gravity affects me is easy, generating gravitational fields that big would zap me of my strength faster then even Quicksilver here can move." I revealed with another sigh.

"Back to square one then." Wonder Man observed. "Just us against a horde of attackers."

"Personally I wouldn't have it any other way." Logan quipped with a slight chuckle.

"Easy for you to say, you heal faster then most of us." Giant-Man returned with a good natured chuckle.

"You know the best way to take out a snake?" I suddenly wondered a small smile playing across my lips.

"Of course, you cut off its head." Wasp replied with a shrug. "So what's your point?"

"Take down the Skull and the BATs will follow." I returned my smile broadening. "He'd have to be using some form of control that would ensure his personal mastery over all the units; he is arrogant enough to assume no one could get close to him." I elaborated.

"So what? One of us gets to the Skull and the mechanical menaces just topple over?" Pietro demanded with a sneer. "And I suppose I'm the one who has to get to him."

"Of course not, I'd be doing that." I shot back sitting up straighter and shooting Pietro a smug look.

"No way could you be faster then me." He returned with another sneer.

"My Daddy doesn't need to be faster then you." Amy retorted glaring at the arrogant mutant speedster. "He's smarter." This caused an uproar among some of the X-Men and even a few Avengers who laughed aloud at the girls' boasts, which served to bruise Pietros' ego even further.

"Why you little punk." He growled forgetting his place; Amy surprised him and most of us when she hissed at him.

"You watch your tongue." She snarled baring her fangs. "I don't have any qualms with getting a good live meal for a change." She elaborated licking her tongue across her teeth in a show of hunger.

"Man that kid of yours has some serious problems." Pietro muttered only to find himself pinned up against the wall with my tendrils wrapped around his neck.

"Hold your tongue; you've obviously forgotten your manners little bug." I growled glaring deep venom into his eyes. "She's just a kid, so why don't you get rid of your arrogant attitude and remember the bigger picture here; even you can't avoid that many BATs weapons." I added ramming him hard against the wall for good measure; he eyed me incredulously, no one had ever been fast enough to take him by surprise, at least not many. I smirked slightly as I resumed my seat and Amy returned to her perch nuzzling the back of her head into my chest with a happy smile and sticking out her tongue at Pietro.

"The dangers of an enraged parent." Hank observed with a grin.

"I suppose we're all in accordance then." Xavier spoke up. "We shall all be ready for when the Skull makes his move; both Avengers and X-Men will engage in combat while Allan attempts to reach the Skull and stop his control of these mindless soldiers." He restated for the benefit of the entire group.

"Very well." Cap concurred reaching out to clasp a hand with Xavier. "However should the need to improvise arise?"

"We'll cross that bridge when it comes to it." I finished. "My apologies for that little outburst I just can't help it when someone mocks my little one." I added bowing my head.

"Think nothing of it." Fury dismissed with a wink. "Besides between you and me Pietro had it coming, he's been acting a lot more arrogant in recent months." He added in a conspiratorial whisper.

To Be Continued


	10. Chapter 10 Social Calls, Part One

**Author's Notes:** I'm back, for anyone even reading this that is... Anyway here's another update, I'll try to do a few more before Christmas, but no guarantees... Please folks R&R I'd really like to know if anyone is reading this and what they think so far.

The usual disclaimer applies; I own nobody except Al and his extended family, it's all borrowed of course so nobody better sue me or anything. Enjoy folks as we enter a less action packed and more family life oriented couple of chapters.

* * *

After the Avengers left most of the X-Men went about they're own business while I showed Amy around the mansion; she enjoyed herself a great deal and even smiled as if we'd never been separated. I felt myself smiling as I watched her reactions to the wondrous sights around this place; it was just so fulfilling to have the child here despite our limited time together.  
As we finished up the tour I realized just how late it was getting and if we wanted to get into town to snag some supplies for Amy's meals we'd have to go soon. As I began to hunt for someone to give us a ride; mainly because I wasn't too comfortable driving around on my own yet, Piotr and Illyana approached us from the living room.

"Comrade Allan." He called out attracting my attention; I turned to him and shot him an inquisitive look. "I and Illyana owe you a dept of honor that may never be repaid." He revealed bowing his head stiffly before wrapping me up in a friendly hug; I felt the air rush from my lungs at the force of his grip and I smiled a little despite it all.

"What for?" I wondered after he let me go and I could breath normally again.

"Why for saving Illyana's life." He returned as if I should know this.

"Oh come on I just did what anyone else would have." I dismissed with a casual wave.

"Niet, you did more then anyone could have. If not for you my sister would be injured or worse." He stated in a serious tone that would brook no argument.

"Ok, ok I accept…But no more hugging." I relented with a smile; Illyana grinned, but remained silent and distant as if she wasn't used to having others save her life. Which made sense since she was a sorcerer so to speak; Amy popped out from behind me where she'd been hiding from this giant of a man and looked up with a shy smile.

"Why hello little one." Piotr greeted with a friendly smile. "Who is this?"

"I'm Amy, this is my Daddy." She replied adopting a more juvenile nature of speaking; she was obviously shy around this mountain of a man.

"You have brought your daughter here?" Piotr wondered in surprise.

"Er, not really, she's jut visiting for a few days." I supplied eyeing the child briefly with a hint of sorrow.

"Ah I understand; it is not easy to be a family man in our line of work." He returned sagely; he slapped my shoulder, which nearly bowled me over. "I shall see you later, Illyana and I must get something to eat." He bid farewell and left taking his sister towards the kitchen.

"Hey there Sugah, Ah see Piotr found yah." Rogue called out as she came down the stairs; I nodded with a sigh before a sudden thought hit.

"Say Rogue I really need to get into town for Amy, do you think you could give us a lift?" I requested eyeing the female X-Man; her cheeks flushed slightly, but she nodded agreeably.

"Sure thing; just let me get mah purse." She stated heading back upstairs; I smiled gratefully and headed for the garage, wondering as I did which vehicle Rogue would pick.

* * *

The shopping trip proved most uneventful; no one even gave Amy a second look with her holographic disguise on, Rogue was quite helpful in picking the best choices of meat for the girl. Not that I would have needed it with my internal sensors and all, but I couldn't let her not help now that she was acting a little more openly around me.  
Amy had a grand time in town too; she enjoyed listening to the radio and even grew respectfully silent when I showed her the World Trade Center, since she knew that back on my home it had been destroyed. We would have stopped for a quick clothes shopping trip, but Amy reminded me that I'd promised we could visit Spider-Man; so I had Rogue drop us off at the New York Public Library and told her I'd call the mansion when I needed to get picked up.  
She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek for luck; or so she claimed and left us there, with me in a very confused state.

"Come on Daddy, I want to meet this Spider person." Amy urged tugging at my arm; I chuckled slightly and took off to the nearest sub-way entrance.

"Ok Amy, but stay close." I requested leading the way down the stairs; the trip to Spidey's neck of the woods proved uneventful and in no time at all we were standing in front of the Parkers' apartment door. Amy felt a little nervous; and I couldn't help, but pick up on those emotions and begin to grow nervous myself. A gentle knock at the door and a few shuffling footsteps from behind the door and the next thing I knew Aunt May was standing before me a kind smile on her face.

"Welcome back young man." She greeted urging me inside.

"Good to see you again as well Aunt May." I returned I just couldn't get over the fact she insisted I call her that; Amy kept behind me hiding in my shadow and peering about her in nervous fear, she wasn't too sure about this visit.

"Al!" Mayday exclaimed dashing up to me and wrapping her arms around me again; Amy eyed her suspiciously, but Mayday was paying too much attention to me to notice the little girl. "What brings you here? Don't tell me you need my help?" She wondered hope filling her eyes; she must have been pretty bored only getting to go out with Spider-Man when he said she could.

"Sorry this is a social call." I replied with a smile.

"A social call?" MJ wondered coming out of the bedroom with a ravishing smile on her lips. "I didn't know you super hero types did that?" She teased joining Aunt May in the small kitchen and helping her by getting a few glasses. "Peter never has."

"For the record I'm not a super hero, I'm just a man who happens to possess extrasensory abilities and uses them to help out." I corrected trying to get Amy to come out of hiding by taking two big steps to the side, but she was smarter then that.

"Peter should be home soon, why don't you join us for dinner?" Aunt May suggested taking two extra plates from the cupboard.

"I don't know I'd hate to impose, and I know how tight things are for Peter." I began trying to get out of giving a definite answer because I didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings.

"Nonsense it would be no imposition." Aunt May assured.

"Can we Daddy?" Amy asked startling Mayday and MJ with her sudden outburst; Aunt May however had obviously spotted the child when she first opened the door; Amy was quite good at hiding when she wanted to. "I'm not sure I'd be comfortable eating with all those X-Men watching again." She admitted with a pout; I let out a soft sight and gently tousled her hair.

"Ok we'll stay, but we'll have to let the Parkers' know about your particular eating habits." I relented as Amy finally came out from behind my legs; MJ's eyes lit up with wonder while Mayday looked a little disappointed, though she hid it well.

"Oh Al she's adorable, but she doesn't look like you." MJ observed eyeing me curiously.

"She's adopted." I explained. "But, uh…" I stammered, but I was saved from having to say anything more by the sudden arrival of Peter; when he caught sight of me he sighed and when he saw Amy a look of fear flashed across his eyes.

"You know if you're going to be dropping in all the time it would be nice if you called ahead of time." He quipped avoiding voicing his true fears concerning my presence there with another young girl he didn't know.

"Well I would, but somebody neglected to give me the phone number." I shot back with an accusing look at Mayday.

"Oh, but…" She stammered shuffling nervously as she squirmed under my intense gaze. I burst out laughing and flopped onto the couch so that Amy could hop into my lap again; she looked a little tired after all that walking.

"Relax kiddo I'm only teasing." I stated jovially as Peter lowered his suitcase to the floor and he took a seat opposite me; he shot Amy another suspicious fear filled look and I shook my head, trust Parker to jump to conclusions. "Amy this is Peter Parker, also known as Spider-Man, Peter this is Amy… My adopted daughter from another universe I happened to be staying at." I introduced; Peter's eyes shot up in surprise at that and Amy gave him very close scrutiny.

"I guess you were right Daddy; I don't see any spider features." Amy consented with a tiny nod; Peter laughed at that and reached over to tousle the girl's hair in a friendly gesture.

"She certainly has no problems speaking her mind." He observed; I nodded with a sigh and eyed the Parkers' nervously I didn't know how my next words and Amy's actions would be taken.

"Little one don't you think it's time you showed them your true appearance?" I gently pried; Amy fidgeted on my lap and looked up with wide nervous eyes.

"But you said not to outside the mansion, you said there were people who would…" I cut Amy off with a sad sigh.

"I know little one, but here you are safe and no one will be bothering the Parkers' or us here." I explained; Amy shot me a look that clearly said I don't know about this, but complied with my request and shut down the holographic disguise.  
This elicited a few gasps, but more because of the light show that involved then the sudden appearance of a bipedal humanoid feline sitting in my lap. Mayday squealed with delight and raced over to Amy picking the girl up easily and hugging her tightly.

"She's so cute." Mayday cooed nuzzling the girl's hair with her cheek; Amy struggled a little in Mayday's grip and let out an indignant moan.

"I look a little like a cat, I don't like being treated as one." She stated pointedly; Mayday blushed at her indiscretion and quickly put the young girl back down; Amy shook her head a little and ran a hand through her hair straightening it before hopping back into my lap and curling up closer to me.

"Sorry." Mayday gushed apologetically her head bowed.

"You have nothing to apologize for; she is quite a remarkable individual and that sort of response is justified." I returned sternly eyeing Amy in that father-like glare I'd perfected. "I mean I'm guilty of wanting to do that on occasion." I added with a grin. "Of course I can get away with it since I'm her father, she hardly knows you yet, but she is quite an affectionate little girl." I added.

"She's an alien." Peter observed knowingly. "What species?" He wondered his scientific curiosity getting the better of him.

"She's a Catarian from the planet Eternia." I informed. "Not to be confused with the planet Eternia from Masters of the Universe." I added reflexively. "She's from one of the Star Trek universes."

"You were in a Star Trek universe?" Peter asked incredulously the geek in him coming out a little; I chuckled and sat back as Amy shifted her position and closed her eyes nudging me expectantly. I sighed at her behavior, but I gave in to her silent request and began to gently stroke the hair on her head in a petting like motion; some days she took the whole evolved from felines thing a little too far.

"Spent five and a half years aboard Voyager." I revealed with a slight smile. "Oh Aunt May what were you having?" I asked suddenly remembering that we'd been invited for dinner.

"Spaghetti dear." She replied taking me a little by surprise at the term of endearment.

"With meatballs I assume." I mused; Mayday sat down beside me and eyed the strange behavior of the child and to a lesser extent myself, Amy began to purr lightly in content and Maydays' eyes widened as she smiled at the adorable actions of the girl.

"Of course." Aunt May agreed smiling herself.

"Would you mind keeping Amy's separate and, uh, raw?" I wondered; the room fell silent as all eyes turned to me.

"Whatever for?" She wondered; I squirmed a little, but knew I had to tell them.

"Well Amy is a carnivore." I explained; this garnered another surprising reaction MJ began to laugh, Aunt May came into view and smiled knowingly and her eyes told me she understood completely.

"Just what is so funny about that?" Amy demanded opening her eyes and glaring at the laughing woman.

"Nothing, I was just thinking what your Father must have had to go through when he made that little discovery." MJ admitted continuing to chortle lightly as she busied herself helping Aunt May. Amy was confused at that and she caught sight of the blush in my cheeks; Peter was grinning a little now.

"I suppose teething was a big surprise." He quipped shooting me a friendly punch in the arm.

"Teething?" Amy wondered cocking her head to one side. "But I'm still only two…" She trailed off realizing she might have said too much; I sighed a little, I'd never told those outside the mansion about my powers origins yet.

"It's a long and complicated story." I explained at the quizzical looks shot my way. "So I'll forego all the intimate details and just cut to the chase, we're both Technorganic Borg." Peter quirked an eyebrow at that and Aunt May was clearly clueless; MJ knew a little bit about Star Trek so she knew what Borg meant, only Mayday and Peter knew the technorganic part.

"So basically you're composed of billions of microscopic mechanisms that give you your powers and significantly diminish the ageing process." Mayday surmised; the others shot her confused or surprised looks and she blushed again. "What did you think I wouldn't inherent dad's intellect as well?" She wondered with a smirk. "I mean I got moms looks after all." This elicited a flurry of laughter mostly directed towards Peter; I could tell the Parkers' had gotten used to Mayday relatively quickly.

"That explains you." Peter pointed out. "But how did Amy…" He trailed off looking at me with fear and comprehension.

"You ever watch Voyager?" I wondered.

"Occasionally when I'm not swinging around town." Peter returned with a shrug.

"Ever seen the episode with the Borg children?" I asked; Peter shot me a funny look and suddenly he put all the pieces together.

"That baby girl wasn't as safe as the episode made it out to be." He surmised. "So you…" I shot out my assimilation tendrils just enough so Peter and Mayday could see them; MJ clapped her hands together from behind us to get our attention.

"No more talking in code please." She requested a slight sharpness in her tone. "You're leaving us women in the dark."

"Sorry; it's not really important anyway." I apologized; Amy nuzzled my chest again and smiled happily up at me, I returned the smile with one of my own and let out a weary sigh. "I wish you didn't have to go back after tomorrow; it'll probably be another three or four months your time before we get to see each other again, knowing Q." I added.

"You've been separated that long?" Aunt May exclaimed in a sympathetic tone.

"Yeah, well leading the life I do apparently those in control of sending me home figure it wouldn't do to have Amy with me…" I trailed off before I could let the bitterness out and eyed Amy once more merely enjoying her company.

"How terrible; and when you're so obviously happy together." Aunt May observed filling the big pot she had gotten out with water for the spaghetti.

"Roma's working on my case though." I supplied looking around at the others and realizing just sitting around could get kind of boring; plus I was running out of topics of conversation.

"Daddy can we stop talking about me?" Amy requested speaking up suddenly. "I'm getting depressed."

"Of course." Peter stated before I could answer her. "We've been rude hosts giving you the whole twenty questions situation. So Amy what would you like to do?" He wondered.

"Could we watch T-V?" Amy wondered her eyes lighting up hopefully. "Daddy's told me a lot about it, but I've only seen a few programs before."

"Sure thing little squirt." Mayday quipped ruffling Amy's hair playfully before the girl could get her head out of the way. "I think The Simpsons are just coming on." She added reaching for the remote and flicking the tube on.

"What's that?" Amy wondered curiously.

"Boy; are you in for a treat." Mayday returned with a mischievous smirk as she began flipping through the stations; Peter sighed and was about to say something when MJ must have shot him a look because he clammed up.

To Be Continued


	11. Chapter 11 Social Calls, Part Two

**Author's Notes:** Here's the follow-up to the previous chapter, I trust it will whet your appetite; this story may not be going anywhere right now because of all the chapters without any action or our villains, but take heart once the visit with Amy is over we'll be heating things up considerably. I mean we are talking Red Skull here, you just know whatever happens in the end, can't be very good for our heroes.

The usual disclaimer doth apply; ownership of all belongs to Marvel and Stan the Man Lee, save for Al and Amy of course. Enjoy folks.

* * *

"Thank you for the wonderful dinner." Amy stated with a curtsy after we'd all eaten, the Parkers' smiled at the cuteness of her actions and Aunt May knelt down to give the child a hug.

"And thank you dear." She returned in that gentle tone of hers. "I've never had the privilege of cooking for another species before." She added with a wink.

"You certainly seem to be bringing her up well." MJ observed with her own smile.

"Of course I wouldn't dream of raising her any other way." I returned warmly as I stretched a little; after such a big meal I was feeling a little lethargic.

"I suppose we'd better get back to the mansion now Daddy." Amy reminded causing me to tumble out of my chair.

"Are you alright?" Mayday asked leaping to help me up.

"Yes and no, I completely forgot to call Rogue to tell her we'd be eating here." I explained rushing over to the phone and quickly dialing the mansion.

"Allan!" Rogues voice exclaimed as soon as the other line was picked up; I winced at the ferocity that was coming out of her tone.

"How did you?" I began.

"The Professah told me." She snapped. "Yah'd better be callin' tah apologize." She added testily.

"Yeesh all this for a guy you aren't even sure you want to date yet." I quipped teasingly knowing that she would be blushing openly at that. "I do apologize though; we're ah, ready to be picked up."

"Ah know, but if yah think Ah'm goin' tah be the one tah pick yah up, yah got another think coming…" She exclaimed. "Logan is already on the way." She finished slamming the receiver down; I winced openly and sighed as I gently hung up the receiver.

"She took that well." I remarked with a sigh.

"Why would you be pursuing Rogue?" Peter asked causing me to realize I'd spoken perhaps a tad too loudly. "I mean… Considering what her mutant gift is and all I would have thought you'd be like everybody else." He elaborated; now I could tell he was beginning to feel like he'd put his foot in it the way his tone had a slight shake to it.

"Rogue has feelings for Daddy." Amy stated in a matter of fact tone.

"Amy!" I blurted; the little girl pouted and tears began to pool in her eyes, I sighed and gently picked the child up hugging her closely. "There, there I'm sorry, but you know what I said about blabbing everybody's secrets." I soothed rocking her back and forth a little; that's the problem with having a two year old trapped in an eight year olds' body, she's quite the handful.

"I'm sorry Daddy, forgive me?" She asked looking up at me with the look; and when I say the look I mean wide, innocent eyed, tiny little pout, with a slight tremble to her lips look.

"You're just too cute to stay mad at." I stated with an exasperated sigh. "Are you sure you haven't been taking lessons on how to control men from your Aunt Serenity?" I asked teasingly.

"Aunt Serenity?" MJ wondered. "Is she the child's real aunt?"

"Oh no, she's um… She's…" I trailed off as I shot MJ a sheepish look and wondered how I should explain this.

"Daddy's old mate." Amy supplied with a wave of dismissal. "I never did approve of him dating her, but she made him happy in bed." She elaborated causing me to nearly drop her in shocked embarrassment.

"Amy, heh, heh the nice people don't need to know about that side of Daddy's social life." I muttered moving over to the window and checking out at the street for any sign of Logan. "Whoops, uh, Peter; Logan does know your secret right?" I wondered suddenly realizing that I might have to rush back to the Library.

"Of course; it isn't capable of hiding a scent from that guy." Peter supplied carefully hiding his smirk at Amy's revelations; I nodded and turned back to the table lowering Amy to the floor.

"In that case I've got time to help with these dishes." I stated beginning to gather them up.

"Nonsense Mister Rutherford, you're our guest." Aunt May countered trying to take the dishes from me; at least she was kind enough not to make any mention of what just transpired.

"I insist Aunt May; it's the least I can do to repay you for your hospitality, I never could stand sitting back and letting others do all the work." I returned moving over to the sink and beginning to fill it after placing the few plates I'd gathered within.

"Very well young man, but I insist on doing the washing you may dry." She stated with a warm smile; I grinned in turn and moved aside to give her room.

"Fair enough." I returned with a chuckle.

* * *

Later that evening I lay in the regeneration bed reading a book I'd picked up from the den; though I wasn't paying too much attention to it. Amy was sitting on the floor coloring in a book Jubilee had bought her when they'd been in town with Logan; oh how he must have enjoyed that.  
Finally I couldn't stand it any longer; rising to a sitting position I slammed the book closed and placed it on the nightstand, escaping into the world of whomever this blasted author was wasn't doing it for me. Amy looked up in surprise, but she didn't say anything; I slipped off the bed and headed over to the bathroom. Splashing a bit of water on my face and going through the motions of brushing my teeth; a gift from Illyana who'd noticed I hadn't any amenities.  
I didn't really want to tell the girl that I had no real reason to brush or floss my teeth anymore or even shave or trim my nails, the nanoprobes regulated everything and they'd decided that all normal growth of such kind was inefficient uses of their times. At least it meant I only had to shower in the mornings and for the first time since stubble started to pop up on my young face my cheeks were always smooth as silk once again.  
Leaving the bathroom in only my boxers I returned to the bed; Amy had seen her father like this before and it really didn't bother her, when she was older in mind and in body she'd probably feel differently about it, but for now… Well for now I could just be my regular modestly unconcerned self, Amy saw that I was getting ready for bed and she proceeded to finish her last little touch ups before heading into the bathroom herself.  
Pulling the covers over me I lay on my back, with hands behind head and stared up at the ceiling lost in thought; perhaps this visit deal was just unnecessary cruelty on Q's part, the child would be forced to return home and who knows how many months could pass over there before I got to see her again.  
I didn't want to miss my daughters' growing up, it just wasn't right; Amy switched off the bathroom light and crawled up onto my covered chest. She saw that my thoughts had resulted in my starting to shed silent tears and she gently wiped them away with her tiny fingers.

"Daddy please don't cry; it'll ruin tomorrow if we're all just thinking about my leaving." She whispered pulling the covers aside so she could snuggle up next to my skin and nuzzle her cheek against my chest. I felt a little strange with her actions; as I often did at such times, but her species customs were different from humans concerning childrearing and I had easily accepted these odd feline inspired displays of affection.

"I'm sorry little one." I whispered back. "It's hard not to dwell upon the matter." I added with a sorrowful sigh.

"You'll see me again; and that nice Roma is working on getting us back together." She reminded curling her tail around my waist and snuggling even closer; I gently began to stroke her hair mindful of the twin horns as she began to grow sleepy, this always got her to fall asleep and it was rather relaxing. Her hair was a lot softer then humans; almost like fur, though not quite.

"I know, I know, but it's so hard." I admitted; she shifted to the side so that she was no longer resting atop of me, which was a good thing because she couldn't regenerate that way. "I'm responsible for you."

"You have nothing to fear Daddy." She soothed despite her weary tone; she smiled sleepily at me and brushed a hand over my own hair. "They can never keep us apart; your God would never allow it… You always said she was a loving understanding God; when the time comes she will let us be together, as a family." She added yawning as she said that last part and pulling her arm closer to her side.

"You're right." I admitted with a soft chuckle. "Sometimes I wonder just who the parent and who the child in this relationship is." I added lightly brushing a strand of hair from her cheek; she giggled and moved close enough to give me a quick peck on the cheek before settling down and closing her eyes. "Did Rogue really say she liked me?" I wondered curiously.

"Uh-huh, she's nice Daddy… I like her a lot; you should try to make her your new mate." She whispered her voice growing softer with each word until at last she was asleep; the soft purring she normally made in her sleep started up a few moments later and I shook my head slowly with a brief chuckle.

"It's really up to her." I returned in the lowest tone I could possibly use without altering my vocal circuits; I managed to kiss her on the forehead before I settled down completely and with a gentle flick of my wrist I managed to send one of my assimilation tendrils over to the light switch and turn it off. Closing my eyes I chose to simply listen to the soft purr of my little one and in a few minutes I too had fallen fast asleep…

* * *

Rogue opened the door to Rutherford's room shortly after; she didn't understand what had made her so worried when he didn't call, or why she'd acted so angry towards him for forgetting. He wasn't perfect despite his claims; the Borg may have made him a perfect and seamless blend of man and machine, but on the inside he still had all the same flaws and foibles he had before.  
She watched as the two of them slept and smiled at the genuine care and devotion he showed the child; she understood that the girl was of an alien species with different customs and the like so she didn't really dwell too much upon their current sleeping arrangements.  
If only the child could stay with him, but after seeing what happened to him with Toad she wasn't so sure Amy should be exposed to such things at her current age. She softly crept into the room when something caught her eye and she grinned a little as she neared the bed; she didn't know exactly why, but she straightened the covers so that Al's exposed arm was tucked back under them.

"Ah suppose startin' a relationship with yah wouldn't be such a bad thing." She whispered to herself as she briefly ran her hand over his cheek once more enjoying the freedom of pure non-fear inducing physical contact. She never did know what to expect when she used her powers to help her friends or even by accident, but with this man she could touch and not have to fear; and for that she could see why she had fallen for him.  
"Ah still don't know if Ah'm ready to take that step though Sugah." She added even though she knew he couldn't hear her, which was better she didn't like opening up; and she couldn't begin to figure out how to address him without breaking down into tears again.  
"Sleep well little Sugah." She whispered lightly brushing her other still gloved hand through the child's hair. "And you too Al." She finished bending down and planting a kiss on his lips; she would have held it there longer, but she was afraid it might wake him up and she'd never truly done this before since that first time all those years ago. With a last fond look she quickly took her leave and gently closed the door leaving the two; father and daughter to continue sleeping in peace, neither aware of their strange late night visitor.

To Be Continued


	12. Chapter 12 Sinister Intentions and Break...

**Author's Notes:** Well another day, another chapter... This one is very interesting and a personal favorite of mine... Oh and in case anyone reading is totally clueless as to why this Marvel Earth 929 has characters from Jem and the Holograms on it... Well the answer is really quite simple; since we've got GIJoe and Transformers who happened to be created by Marvel I figured I'd toss in the third Hasbro properity I personally enjoy simply because I really wanted to play with those characters.

The usual disclaimer applies; I own nother except for Al... And do I really need to repeat myself with every chapter? R&R folks I crave criticism and all that jive.

* * *

Eric Raymond fidgeted with his tie for the twelfth time that evening and wondered just who would express any interest in him that would insist on meeting down here? The closed off section of the sub-ways was dank and dark, not to mention he was worried that something might fall on him or the like seeing as how it still looked as though they hadn't even started to repair the damages.  
The call had come in right when he was about to leave back for L.A; if it hadn't been for his desperate need to find a way out of this mess he wouldn't even be down here at twelve thirty at night. Glancing at his watch again he wondered what was taking so long; this guy should have been here by now. Perhaps it was all some elaborate hoax; maybe he should just leave now and get a little rest before taking the first flight out in the morning. Suddenly he heard a loud clanking sound from down the tunnel; as it drew closer he swore it was a train, but that was impossible.  
However as the sound got louder and louder he knew he hadn't been mistaken; yet what he heard was no ordinary sub-way train, this sounded more like an old steam locomotive running down the tracks. He began to back up from the platform in sudden trepidation; when suddenly the source of the noise appeared, it was a locomotive, but this one was varying shades of purple. And appeared to have rocket engines sticking out of the rear; he wanted to run, but his body would not obey.  
The vehicle came to a complete stop and a door slid open on the side; three figures emerged a short red and black robot that appeared to be seven feet tall, a large mostly blue robot with a yellow cyclopean visor where his eyes should be and a strange glass rectangle in his chest. And a slightly taller silver and gun metal menace; he recognized these towering creatures from the news reports and he felt his knees buckling as the three mechanoids approached him.

"This is the one." The blue unit informed the mostly silver one who had a smirk on his features at the sight of the humans' obvious fear; he nodded with understanding and firmly placed his hands on his hips for a more imposing appearance.

"Mister Raymond how good of you to grace us with your company." Megatron greeted in a dark though no less gentle tone of greeting; he hid his contempt for the human species well.

"W-w-what do y-y-you want with m-m-me?" Eric demanded his stammering betraying his true emotions.

"Why it's quite simple actually; we require the assistance of a human such as yourself who is capable of getting us onto the rich oil producing platforms of Mister Harvey Gabor." Megatron informed with a snicker. Eric shot the leader of the Decepticons a blank stare; he obviously did not understand the request.

"But you could just take whatever you want." He exclaimed; Megatron nodded in accordance with this human.

"Of course I could flesh-creature, but unfortunately we must be more subtle these days. I am on the verge of a great victory; if you can get us secretly onto those oil platforms I can see to it that you are amply rewarded." Megatron informed briefly indicating Rumble; the puny red and black robot tossed Raymond a non-descript looking sack that was dirty and covered in gunk.  
Raymond eyed it curiously and stepped forward; opening it he looked inside to find stacks of unmarked bills, a slow smile crept up on his features, but then he remembered who was offering this.

"I don't think…" He began trying to avoid making the Decepticon angry.

"Indeed you do not think human; either take this offer now or the New York Police Officials will have a very big mystery on their hands when they find your body in the morning." Megatron threatened; Eric gulped in fear and quickly snatched up the bag, he trembled fearfully as he nodded once accepting the offer if only to save his own skin.

"Excellent I knew you would be co-operative. Now then I shall contact you again at your place of business when we are ready to proceed; do not even think about betraying us to the authorities or the Autobots." He warned his optics narrowing; Eric nodded his head flapping up and down so fast it almost appeared a blur and then he quickly made his leave.

"Are you sure we can trust that guy?" Rumble wondered after the human was out of ear shot.

"Of course not; Soundwave." Megatron ordered.

"Ravage eject; operation surveillance." Soundwave ordered triggering his eject mechanism; the cassette door on his chest flew open and a tiny black audiocassette flew out. Transforming in mid-air Ravage landed on his four paws gave a low growl of acknowledgement to his master and silently made his way after the human.

"As long as he doesn't get a backbone before we get onto those oil platforms it really doesn't matter." Megatron added as he led his troops back to the waiting Astrotrain. "Soon we shall have that device Prime so carefully hid away from me and then we shall conquer the universe." He continued speaking more to himself then to his loyal minions.

* * *

"Daddy." Amy complained in my ear; I stirred a little and mumbled something before turning over to go back to sleep. "Daddy; I can't get the shower to work, I think it's busted." She moaned some more shaking me; that got me awake I sat bolt upright in bed and looked to the child my cheeks growing hot with embarrassed apology.

"Oh I'm sorry sweetie I forgot to show you how the showers of this century work." I apologized climbing out of bed and leading her back into the bathroom. "Here just turn one of these knobs and voila." I demonstrated; the water began to pour out and Amy tested it with her hand pulling it back in slight pain.

"Too hot." She informed; I nodded in understanding and twisted the cold water tap, this time I tested the water and when it reached the perfect mild-warm temperature I smiled at the girl and flicked the water at her. She giggled as she turned her head to dodge the spray and then gave me a quick hug. "Thank you Daddy; now shoo." She insisted pushing on me to leave the room.

"You're gonna be ok without any help?" I wondered; Serenity had mostly given Amy a hand whenever she took a shower and I didn't know how things had been going for the two months I wasn't there.

"Yes Daddy; Aunt Serenity stopped coddling me weeks ago." She informed before lightly closing the door; I sighed as another phase of her childhood had altered since my departure, I knew it was inevitable, but I'd hoped she wouldn't experience too much time passing before we were reunited. After she was finished in the bathroom I went in and quickly cleaned up; next I began to think what we could do together for this final day of her visit, we could go into town. And yet a part of me was more interested in just keeping her to myself today; so after we were both fully dressed we headed downstairs for breakfast.  
Professor Xavier was just finishing his morning tea as we arrived; Bobby and Remy were heading out the back door and Logan sat at the table sipping a mug of coffee. Amy took her breakfast over to the stove and gave me a quick smile; I nodded in understanding and set about lightly cooking her meal so that it would have a little flavor to it.

"I thought she needed raw meat?" Jean wondered as she and Scott came in still attired in their sleeping garments.

"She likes a little flavor with her meal." I explained with a chuckle. "Raw meat doesn't really taste like anything."

"And how would you know that?" Logan wondered with a grunt.

"Because I used to be so enamored of my Daddy I'd only eat what he ate; and he didn't bother to inform me that it wasn't good for him to be eating all that raw bloody meat." Amy informed with a slight sigh followed immediately by a giggle.

"What can I say; eating the stuff couldn't kill me so instead of trying to teach the child about her nature I just started eating meals that would ensure she received all the proper nourishment." I stated with a sheepish grin and a shrug; Amy let out another tiny sigh and hopped up onto a chair while she waited for breakfast.

"Kilowatt yer somthin' else." Logan chuckled; I shrugged again and began to make my own breakfast using my tendrils to get it all ready while I kept a close eye on the meat, it wouldn't do to overcook it so all the blood was gone.

"And what are your plans today Allan?" The Professor wondered shifting so he could look at me from where his chair rested; I couldn't immediately answer him because I really hadn't made up my mind yet.

"I suppose I'll just hang around here and enjoy Amy's company." I finally decided shooting Amy a warm smile and passing her plate to her with my tendrils while I finished preparing my own meal.

"So you're just going to loaf around then." Scott surmised brushing past me to get at the cupboards where the cold cereal was kept.

"I hardly think entertaining Amy would be construed as loafing around." I retorted taking my meal and moving to sit beside the child; she shot me a happy smile and rubbed my back with her tail. "Perhaps you'd like to climb some of the trees out back and get in some exercise?" I wondered.

"Oh really, can I do that Daddy?" Amy exclaimed bouncing a little in her seat. "It's been so long since I've been happy enough to leap around and climb things." She admitted lowering her head a little with a sad sigh.

"Of course; the trees are big enough." I returned tousling her hair; she perked up instantly and began to truly dig into her meal eating faster then was polite in mixed company, I let out an exasperated sigh, but couldn't fault the child for her eagerness. "And perhaps we could continue your lessons." I added pointedly.

"Oh thank you Daddy; I've been practicing, but without you around to help it's harder to manipulate the flow of gravity." Amy informed pausing in her meal only briefly to get that out before diving back in with zeal. I chuckled openly and partook of my own meal slowly savoring each bite; Amy saw what I was doing out of the corner of her eye, she pouted a little, but she knew just because she was gobbling her food down it didn't mean she'd get out there faster if I was going at such a slow pace. She immediately slowed down with a tiny sigh of distaste; Logan was eyeing the both of us bemusedly while Jean was having a hard time keeping her expression neutral, her face had gone pale as she'd watched the child consume her meal.

"A most enthusiastic child." The Professor observed seemingly unfazed by her actions.

To Be Continued


	13. Chapter 13 Parenting Skills 101

**Author's Notes:** This chapter is intended to reveal Al's parenting skills to some extent so I warn you it's quite fluffy. In certain regards; I also in no way claim to own the Winnie the Pooh songs used in this story, I'm a closet Disney fanatic and most of the time I write my character singing it's either a Disney tune or some pop tune from the eighties or ninties that I happen to really like. (Though you'll never catch me singing Brittany Spears... Ugh.)

The usual disclaimer applies concerning story and characters; if you don't get that by now then you seriously should check out the previous chapters, just because this story is so damn good it's worth reading twice. (Chuckles)

* * *

Not long after Amy was frolicking amongst the trees doing cartwheels; dashing across the limbs, wrapping her tail around a branch and swinging out over the ground only to catch herself at the next instant. Despite her earlier claim it looked to me as if she had in fact been doing a little practice; she giggled happily as she showed off her remarkable skills for me. I was keeping a close eye on her as often as I could, but I was also enjoying myself; using my tendrils I created crude pictures of people, places and things.  
Suddenly I heard a noise behind me and glanced over my shoulder to find Kitty, Jubilee and Illyana; the three girls looked real nervous about something, perhaps it was the fact that my current image was a representation of Unicron in planet mode and my tendrils were a good hundred feet long.

"Hi." I greeted jovially turning back to my artistic endeavors swapping out Unicron for a unicorn.

"Hey Al." Jubilee returned her tone indicative of strong nervousness.

"What's wrong?" I wondered glancing back once more; the three younger X-Men hadn't been very comfortable around me since the incident with Toad.

"We… We wanted to talk." Illyana offered shyly; I shrugged reconfiguring my tendrils into a battle scene with Dinobot facing down Megatron from Beast Wars.

"Have a seat." I suggested pointing to the ground beside me with my free hand as Amy let out a squeal of delight and landed on the tree nearest me; she spotted the three teenagers and pouted a little, but nothing would keep her from enjoying the day.

"We're kind of worried about what to expect tomorrow." She admitted biting the bottom of her lip in nervous apprehension; I quirked an eyebrow at that and took on a more interested expression. "The Professor hasn't said anything, but we think he's going to request that we stay out of this fight."

"Which would be a good thing." I pointed out sagely.

"Da, but we want to help." Illyana returned a strong sense of determination in her tone; I eyed her warily if I said anything to upset them it could go badly, they might get it into their heads to attempt some fool stunt in order to prove themselves.

"It's not like going against Magneto and the Brotherhood; or even Sentinels." I informed returning my tendrils to their resting place. "These machines will be using live ammunition; automatic weapons and self-destruct fail safe protocols if not taken down correctly." I elaborated; secretly thanking Fury for giving me that file folder on Cobra B.A.Ts. "The Professor is merely looking out for your well being; and it's not as if you won't be the only ones not fighting." I added.

"Just the youngest." Jubilee griped; I merely shook my head; teenagers always have to have something to prove.

"Listen I don't want to sound like a party pooper or something, but the Professor is right. Fighting those B.A.Ts is better left for the ones who have far more effective abilities." I stated mentally kicking myself when I caught sight of the three glares being shot my way.

"So you think we are weaklings." Illyana accused marching up to me and shooting me with a withering glare.

"No I didn't mean…" I tried to recover; she didn't let me finish, she cast a spell and the next thing I knew I couldn't move a single muscle. I couldn't even speak; and then Jubilee blinded me with one of her fireworks-like displays followed swiftly by a jarring sensation in my chest as Kitty lashed out, kicking me to the ground.

"We can handle ourselves." Kitty exclaimed angrily as the three teenagers bent over me; the next thing they knew the three of them were flying back and slamming into the side of the mansion, albeit with far more gentler force then if I had been a true B.A.T self-detonating.  
Amy landed beside me a look of concern filling her eyes as she knelt closer to my body and tried to get me to move.

"What did you do to my Daddy?" She screamed whirling on the three girls with such ferocity it took them by complete surprise. Illyana lowered her head in shame and quickly cancelled her spell out; I sat up rubbing at my chest where Kitty had kicked me; Amy whirled back to me and leapt at me wrapping her arms around my neck and nuzzling her face against it. "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." She repeated over and over again tears falling openly and loudly; the three teenagers lowered their heads in shame eyeing each other, they hadn't realized their actions would hurt my daughter so much.

"We're sorry." Jubilee began reaching out to try and comfort the little girl; she hissed like a cat as the hackles on her back rose and her fangs glistened, Jubilee quickly snatched her hand away.

"Little one do not be so hostile towards these girls; they were only trying to prove a point." I soothed gently running a hand down her back to ease her sobs. "They didn't fully think out their actions, but they didn't mean any harm. They were just frustrated that they couldn't help protect this place when the attackers return tomorrow." I elaborated; by now Scott, Ororo and Jean had come rushing outside drawn by the wails of Amy, I carefully climbed to my feet and gently rocked her back and forth as she continued to cry.

"I-I-I understand Daddy, but that doesn't mean I'll forgive them; nobody hurts you not even for demonstrative purposes when I'm around." She stated hiccoughing as she continued to cry. I let out a weary sigh and headed back for the house; Amy wouldn't want to finish up her play time now, and I hardly think she'd be interested in continuing her training. I shook my head wearily and carried her through the kitchen, dinning room, down the hallways and into the den; all the while Jubilee, Kitty and Illyana followed after us.  
Scott and Jean had decided not to get involved; while Ororo had gone off to tend to the gardens, she had expressed slight concern as I passed her, but I'd gently requested that she leave this to me. I sat down in the chair closest to the bookcase and continued to stroke Amy's back; the X-teens sat down around us eyeing the child and to a lesser extent me with shame-filled expressions. I was getting a little tired of those looks, but I had a very upset little girl to calm down first before I could smooth a few things over with the older girls.

"Amy please calm down." I pleaded worried that her crying would attract more concerned X-Men; I really wasn't interested in dealing with a circus today. Amy managed to gain slight control at my words and her loud wails turned into silent wracking sobs; this was our last day together and she wasn't enjoying it as I'd hoped. "Oh Amy; you try too hard to be so grown up and protect your father." I muttered shaking my head slightly. "You're only a child after all." I added; Amy curled her fists tugging at the hair on the back of my neck, I yelped a little and continued to rub her back despite the slight pain.

"What?" Rogue began as she suddenly appeared Remy, Logan and Betsy at her side; I was a little surprised to see Psylocke visiting once more, but I didn't have time to dwell on this it was time to cheer my little one up as only I could.

"Deep in the Hundred Acre Woods; where Christopher Robin plays." I began closing my eyes and continuing to rock her back and forth. "You'll find the enchanted neighborhood; of Christopher's childhood days." Amy opened her eyes slightly and looked up at me confusedly; her tears were beginning to slow down.  
"A donkey named Eeyore is his friend, and Kanga and little Roo; there's Rabbit, and Piglet and there's Owl, but most of all Winnie the Pooh." I could tell she was smiling a little at my slight foolishness, but I wasn't going to stop until all her tears had been shed and she was at ease once more.  
"Oh, Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh; tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff. He's Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh willy nilly silly old bear…" Amy curled up silently sobbing still and I switched into another song without missing a beat sensing her body beginning to relax.  
"Oh woo hoo, hoo, hoo… The wonderful thing about Tiggers' is Tiggers' are wonderful things. Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms made out of springs; they're bouncy, trouncy, pouncy, flouncy fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, but the most wonderful thing about Tiggers' is I'm the only one… Oh I'm! The only one."

"Thank you Daddy." Amy cooed her tears all gone and a content little sigh escaping from her lips. "It's been a long time since you sang to me." She added eliciting a chuckle from me.

"A long time for me too." I admitted tousling the girl's hair and opening my eyes again; Logan was eyeing me curiously while Rogue was shooting me a gentle smile and the three X-teens were giggling slightly. Remy merely shrugged his head and took his leave; I eyed the three younger X-Men with remembrance and adopted a stern glare.

"You three aren't out of the woods yet." I pointed out causing them to squirm and Amy to smile at their misfortune. "And you're getting a lecture too." I added pointedly shifting my glare on to her.

"But Daddy." She whined adopting the look; I shook my head.

"Uh-uh you're not getting out of it; you could have hurt them when you slammed them into the wall." I stated.

"They were trying to hurt you." She argued.

"They were trying to prove how adult they were." I returned with a sharp crack in my tone directed towards the three older girls. "But they never would have really hurt me; of course they also should have shown more tact." I added glancing up to eye the three of them; they squirmed under my gaze and Logan snorted with approval at my tone.  
"You will not be fighting tomorrow; you think it'll be easy to keep your cool under fire, you don't know one damn thing about true warfare." I snapped letting my anger out at their inexperience and yet also showing my concern openly so they knew I wasn't truly mad at them.  
"I livedabout five months in ancientGreece; I saw warfare up close and personal, I suffered countless wounds that never healed properly and left glaringly obvious scars because I wasn't Borgified yet." I snapped telling a little white lie in order to convey just how serious combat was."There are going to be too many B.A.Ts' and it'll be hard enough staying out of their line of fire without worrying about you three, your powers are just not powerful enough; even if you were to use them in tandem to avoid them all. I don't want to be responsible for getting you hurt; I couldn't live with myself if you were injured or killed trying to help me deal with Skull boy and his walking tin cans." I finally finished my tone had gradually lowered until now it was highly subdued and fearful; the three X-teens were staring at me with newfound understanding and respect, Jubilee climbed from her seat and reached out to squeeze my shoulder.

"That's happened to you before." Logan observed; I nodded silently and slumped in my seat as Amy allowed Jubilee to tousle her hair in a show of apology.

"If you promise you'll be ok we'll drop it." Kitty relented; I sighed in audible relief and nodded in agreement.

"I'm always careful." I returned with a chuckle. "You've got my word I'll be fine, you won't have to worry about me like with Toad." I added for the benefit of the group.

"Daddy; am I still in trouble?" Amy wondered returning my attention to her recent actions.

"Not anymore Amy; let's just forget the incident ever happened and try to enjoy the rest of the day together?" I requested with another weary sigh.

"Ok Daddy, if we can sit here like this a little longer." Amy conceded curling her tail around my waist and closing her eyes basking in the warmth being so close to me generated.

"We'll do whatever you want little one." I whispered closing my own eyes; Rogue smiled at the both of us and bent close enough to gently brush her lips over my cheek taking me by surprise again; my eyes flew open and I shot her a concerned look.

"Yah just relax Sugah, Ah'll go tell the others that everythin' is ok." She whispered ushering the X-teens from the room and leaving me alone with Amy and Logan; he had caught that little incident between Rogue and me and was eyeing me with narrowed eyes, but he knew better then to broach the subject in front of Amy.

"We'll have yer back tomorrow Kilowatt." He said instead before taking his leave also; I smiled a little, but knew that we'd have it out sooner or later should Rogue and I decide to get together. For some reason Logue had a protective streak when it came to Rogue, Jean, Jubilee or the others he considered friends. I shifted my weight a little and suddenly spotted Betsy still standing close to the entrance having been hidden from view; I'd completely forgotten she'd been there practically the whole time, she shot me an understanding smile and took her leave not bothering to voice her opinion on the entire matter.

To Be Continued


	14. Chapter 14 Blossoming Romance and Watery...

**Author's Notes: **Another chapter focusing more on personal issues between Al, Amy and Rogue a little bit; but then again the action with Red Skull is rapidly approaching and these fun times are necessary to aid our heroes with winding down a little bit after that big fight with the B.A.Ts at the beginning of the story. Especially the main hero who deserves a little something before what is to come... Trust me, you'll like it.

The usual disclaimers apply and all that jazz, I hope some of you people R&R because this puppy won't be updated very often in the near future, what with the end rapidly approaching us. (Chuckles) I've got some plans too; just wait until you see what happens in the next exciting tale, I don't want to spoil anything, but let's just say you Spider-Man fans are in for a real treat. But enough about part three of Crisis on Earth 929, it is time to focus on part two; enjoy.

* * *

After lunch Amy chose to go back to coloring; she brought her crayons and coloring book to the den and set herself up on the floor, I sat down in a different chair this time and watched her as I simply enjoyed having her here. And for the fiftieth time or so since Roma got this whole visiting deal approved I thanked God that I could at least cherish these moments; Amy however still hadn't fully opened our telepathic link and that was driving me insane with curiosity.

"Amy; I've just got to know, why haven't you opened your link with me?" I wondered aloud incapable of keeping it bottled up any longer; Amy froze as she colored and lowered her head in sorrow.

"I don't want to experience what happened last time we separated Daddy." She admitted in a soft weepy tone; I nodded in understanding and let out a silent sigh of fond remembrance at how it used to be between us.

"Thank you." I returned with a light laugh. "My curiosity has been nagging me since you got here." I admitted with another chuckle.

"That's ok Daddy." She stated turning to smile winningly up at me; I shook my head in silent wonder and allowed her to return to her coloring, with no T-V in here it was certainly boring and quiet. Perhaps I should have chosen the living room instead; or maybe I could just use my impressive cognitive functions to create something to pass the time in my head?

"Dere you are Mon Ami." Remy's voice suddenly cut in as he stood in the doorway with Betsy, Jean, Scott and Ororo. "We been lookin' everywhere for you." He added leading the others in; Amy glanced up curiously, but shrugged a few seconds later and resumed her coloring happily humming to herself.

"Looking for me?" I wondered. "Not for another round of twenty questions?" I exclaimed with alarm; Remy chuckled and shook his head.

"Nothin' like dat." He returned with a chuckle.

"We just thought you two were being alone too much." Ororo chimed in with a smile. "We're here to invite you out back for a bit of a swim." She explained; it was then that I noticed most of the group was wearing swimming attire, Amy's ears perked up at that and leapt back to her feet whirling to face me.

"They have a pool here?" She demanded with a pout. "You never showed me that."

"Er, yes, well I thought you wouldn't like it since we never did get to finish those swimming lessons." I countered nervously rubbing the back of my neck.

"Just because you can't swim doesn't mean I never got the lessons." Amy retorted with a pout. "Aunt Serenity saw to it that I would get everything I needed, she said she owed you for that much."

"Can't swim?" Betsy wondered eyeing me with a quirked eyebrow.

"It's a long story." I exclaimed with a sigh.

"Don't be ridiculous Daddy; it's really quite simple…" Amy growled as my hand quickly slapped over her mouth; not a very polite thing to do I know, but in my desperation I hadn't thought everything through. Which explains why I was yowling in pain the next moment waving my hand; I glanced at her incredulously while she shot me an indignant look. "Serves you right Daddy." She huffed whirling and picking up her things. "I'll go get changed into my swimsuit, we'll be out in a moment." She stated to the X-Men accepting their invitation for the both of us; I was still shaking my hand, the kid's teeth were very sharp and she'd punctured flesh and bone.

"Dat must have smart." Remy observed with a chuckle.

"Why the big secret?" Jean pried furrowing her brow slightly to avoid from breaking out into a smile.

"I don't like admitting to weakness." I supplied sighing in relief as the wound healed at last; Scott quirked an eyebrow at that and Betsy chuckled.

"Isn't admitting to that a weakness?" She wondered with a sly smirk and a twinkle in her eyes.

"Point taken." I conceded moving to the exit. "Still I don't have any clothing of my own yet; in all the crazy excitement this week has offered I've yet to get into town for a much needed supply run." I reminded; Jean accepted this explanation with a slight nod and shoved Scott over to stand beside me.

"You look like you'll fit." She murmured eyeing me with a practiced eye. "Scott go get him a spare set of yours." She ordered.

"No wait." I tried to protest, but Scott grabbed my arm and shook his head.

"Don't argue." He whispered. "Just go with it."

"The voice of experience?" I wondered smirking a little.

"Plain common sense." He returned with a grin.

"Alright fine, but I'm not getting in the water." I relented daring the others to contradict me with my tone of voice; they all adopted innocent expressions, which sent a shiver down my spine. "I'm going to regret saying that out loud." I muttered aside to Scott.

"Oh yeah." He agreed with a sympathetic look; together we left and Jean called out telepathically that they'd meet us outside, this was going to be a long afternoon.

* * *

We emerged five minutes later; I felt really dumb wearing a pair of Scotts swim trunks, for one thing he was the kind of guy who wouldn't dream of wearing the tight kind. Instead he had these big boxer like pairs; that didn't suit me at all and his taste in color co-ordination left much to be desired. Amy burst into hysterics when she saw what I was wearing and I playfully growled at her; rushing over to her in a burst of speed I scooped the child up and tossed her towards the pool, she flailed her arms about in surprise for only a moment before she tucked herself into a ball and splashed drenching Logan and his cigar thoroughly.  
He shot me a glaring look and growled low in his throat, but I ignored it headed around the pool to the opposite side and took a seat in a recliner.

"Aren't cats supposed to hate the water?" Jubilee wondered as Amy rose back to the surface and giggled happily splashing about in the water and starting to backstroke towards my location.

"You'd think that, but I guess her ancestors or something outgrew it." I returned with a slight shrug.

"I see you found something that fits." Betsy observed with a grin; I nodded and let out a sigh.

"Not my idea of comfortable though." I returned with a smirk as Scott joined Jean. "I must admit though this was a good idea." I added leaning back with hands behind head and gazing up at the fluffy white clouds that floated by overhead.

"You've got quite a set of pipes." She observed reminding me of her earlier presence during my little sing along with Amy; though it couldn't really be called that.

"Yes well when you can manipulate your very vocal patterns you can get away with having a good voice; I never could sing confidently when I was plain old ordinary Al." I revealed with a chuckle. "Say where's Warren? I would have thought he'd be with you this time."

"Oh he's busy with his business and that sort of thing; I was feeling a might bored cooped up in that apartment all alone so I figured I'd stop by for a visit." She replied with a wave of dismissal; I nodded in understanding and resumed glancing up at the sky until Amy bounced onto my chest and knocked the wind out of me.

"That was fun Daddy." She exclaimed exuberantly. "Do it again." She pleaded hopping up and down in her enthusiasm; I groaned a little at the pressure she was applying to my abdomen, but quickly tossed her out over the pool a second time, albeit this time with my powers. She let out a squeal as she plunged head first into the water; this time when she surfaced she shot me a pouting glare as she hobbled back out of the pool.

"Not so rough." She chastised wincing a little as she gingerly touched her tail; it must have come down pretty hard if she injured it.

"Sorry little one, but next time don't hop on pop." I quipped with a good natured smile; Amy cocked her head to one side quizzically and I laughed heartily at my own private joke. "Earth reference; I'll teach you about it some time." I added still laughing away; Amy shrugged with a smile and dashed back to the pool.

"You certainly have a natural instinct with children." Ororo observed coming up beside us; and by us I mean Betsy, Jubilee, Illyana, Kurt and me.

"Comes with the territory." I supplied. "When you've got as big a heart as I do it's easy to be a good father."

"I suppose that's true." She conceded tilting her head a little to one side as she spied Jean and Scott heading for the pool. "It's nice to relax every once in a while." She added.

"It is indeed." I agreed lowering myself back down and closing my eyes; I let out a content sigh and instinctively knew that something was about to go down. Boy was I right; before I could even brace myself I felt very powerful arms grabbing me from behind and the next thing I knew I was flipping through the air, a brief flash of Rogues' distinctive hairstyle fluttered in the corner of my eye and then it was gone.  
The water was warm; inviting even, but as soon as I vanished under the waves my splash generated I began to instinctively panic. I tried to breathe automatically and wound up sucking a lungful of water; panic flared even greater at that and I found myself flailing about trying to find my way out of the murky environment. The next thing I knew someone was dragging me out of the water sputtering and coughing and I reflexively lashed out with my right; someone caught my fist in one hand and then I snapped my eyes back open and gasped deeply of the air all around.

"Ah'm so sorry Al." Rogue blurted; I remembered hearing good natured laughter earlier before I wound up dunking into the pool, they'd expected this little joke to play out differently.

"Why didn't you tell us you couldn't swim because you're terrified of sticking your head under water?" Jean demanded angrily from somewhere off to my left.

"If we knew dat, we never would have convinced Rogue to toss you in Mon Ami." Remy added apologetically.

"To be quite honest I thought I'd handle it differently." I admitted groggily sitting up and shaking the water from my ears. "Stupid paranoid childhood trauma, you'd think the Nanoprobes would have erased that particular foible or something." I added coughing a little more before I finally managed to calm my nerves; the others eyed me with concern, they'd only wanted to have a little fun after all.

"Relax." Amy suddenly called out as she pushed her way past Ororo and joined me in the center of this impromptu gathering. "You couldn't have hurt Daddy." She added. "Besides he deserved that, gave him a good wake up call."

"What are you talking about?" I wondered totally bewildered.

"Oh nothing Daddy, nothing at all." Amy returned with a teasing smile before she handed me Scotts' spare pair of swimming trunks. "I think you dropped something." My eyes shot open wide in embarrassment for a good twenty-five seconds before I remembered that to be on the safe side I'd put my boxers on underneath. With a sheepish grin I snatched the swimming attire back from Amy and hastily put them back on.

"I guess they weren't exactly the right size after all." I muttered sheepishly before I shook the water from my hair and returned to my lounger.

"I still think you're taking it all too hardly." Amy spoke up as the X-Men continued to mull over what just happened; she shot me a proud look and resumed her own swimming. "I would have saved him if he was ever in any danger." She continued more for the benefit of the others then for myself; I sighed and tried to go back to relaxing, but it took a good forty minutes before the X-Men stopped feeling guilty and just got back to plain old poolside fun.

"So sugah why are yah that way?" Rogue wondered sitting down beside me and eyeing me with a hint of concern still lingering.

"I'm not sure when it happened, or how." I admitted. "But I think it started when I was no more then a year old or so; my aunt was babysitting and she had to give us a bath, by us I mean my cousin and me. She filled the tub almost completely; because her daughter was used to it that way, but me… Well I was just too young, I must have slipped or something and stayed under long enough to develop a total fear of being under water." I explained with an indifferent shrug. "Never got in my way before."

"Ah really am sorry yah know." She apologized once more reaching out to squeeze my shoulder.

"Quit worrying about it." I requested smiling at her and leaning back so the sun could finish drying me off. "It's in the past." I added adopting a different tone of voice; this prompted her to laugh as she recognized what I was doing and she sat down beside me as we both watched the rest of the X-Men and Amy enjoy themselves. I caught her glancing at me from time to time out of the corner of my eye, but whenever I turned to catch her openly she always quickly averted her gaze. I was beginning to feel something, it was more then just that spark of friendship we'd started only a good four days ago or so; some part of me was starting to care for her… Maybe because I'd always had a crush on this fictional character; or at least fictional before now and being in her presence was speeding up the natural process of falling for her.  
Or maybe just because I could relate to her in a way that I never thought I'd ever relate to anyone before; either way it felt good and just a little weird, I'd heard of love at first sight before. It was every romantic's perfect ideal belief and I was no exception, but in all honesty I'd never really believed it could happen to me.  
"By the way you look nice." I finally complimented shooting her an appraising look; though careful not to linger too long.

"Thanks." She whispered blushing a little. "Yah do tah." She added her accent thickening a little; I got a jolt from that, her accent really did something to me especially when it was so thick like that. I smiled widely and turned back to watch as Amy succeeded in dunking Scott; I could tell he was only pretending to let her win their little duel; her presence seemed to bring out the parent in all the X-Men… Well except Jubilee and Illyana, they were acting more like kids; suddenly I happened to glance over at Logan and caught the icy glare he was shooting my way. _Oh boy he's really got issues; and I thought he liked me, guess when it comes to starting something up with Rogue I get the complete third degree or whatever it's called._ I thought to myself trying to pretend as if he wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary; if we did pursue the whole relationship angle it certainly would prove challenging, just so long as I was here a lot longer then just a few more weeks.

To Be Continued


	15. Chapter 15 Calm before a Storm

**Author's Notes:** We are rapidly approaching the conclusion to this story, the grand battle is soon to begin; so this chapter is shorter and sadder a little bit.  
Please feel free to R&R folks, it's a great time to show that you've enjoyed Amy's presence here, I know I sure have.

The usual disclaimers apply and all that; so without further ado here we have the sad goodbye.

* * *

Three hours later after dinner we were surprised by the arrival of six members of the Avengers; they and the X-Men moved to the living room where Amy and I joined them after finishing our later then usual meal, mainly due to the fact that I'd needed to do a few loads of laundry for everyone and of course myself.  
Thus it was just as the early news broadcast was about to begin that things came to a head; by which I mean Q decided to show up unannounced and I could tell by the look on his face that I wasn't going to like why he was here.

"Well Amy; I'm sorry to have to cut this visit short, but something has come up." Q explained forgoing his usual semi-arrogant, obnoxious tone of voice for a more serious tone.

"What?" She blurted. "You said I had a full two days." She accused curling up even closer to me and tightening her grip around my neck.

"Sorry, but if you count up all the hours you've been here since I first brought you; you'll find that it is indeed two full days worth." Q returned with a genuine apologetic tone; Amy was starting to cry and I wasn't too far from joining her.

"Come along little one let us get you packed." I whispered leading her from the room; we made our way slowly up to my room and remained silent the entire time, she took her time packing away all of her belongings and I secretly clipped my lightsaber to my belt. If I was a betting man I'd say Red Skull was moments away from instigating his attack; however I wasn't, but I'd still take that bet.  
We returned fifteen minutes later Amy shedding silent tears as she moved to give me one final hug of farewell; Q raised his hand and was about to snap when I shot him a glare.  
"Don't think you'll get away with splitting us up again without allowing me to say a few words; you son of bitch." I snapped causing Q to smile bemusedly at my colorful metaphor, as Spock would call it.

"By all means." Q insisted waving his hand in a hurrying gesture; I sighed as I knelt to face my little one and part of me wanted to just hold onto her for eternity and never let her go, but battle was fast approaching.

"Good." She began through the tears; I held up a finger to her lips and shook my head.

"Don't say good bye." I told her with a quirky smile; my own tears had begun to shed by now only I didn't feel half as hurt as I had the first time we'd parted. "Say good journey." I added; the child quirked her head to one side confusedly, but she soon realized what I meant and her face lit up with a smile.

"Good journey Daddy I'll be back soon." She informed insistently shooting Q a glare daring him to contradict her.

"Stay safe little one and never forget I will always love you." I returned wrapping her up in one final hug; Amy curled her tail around my waist and shot me a final brave look before moving to stand beside Q. He nodded briefly in a show of respect; something he'd never done before as long as I'd known him and snapped his fingers vanishing with Amy instantly. I slowly climbed back to my feet once again feeling the weight of centuries upon me and curled my lip in disgust hiding my true feelings behind a mask of dark anger. "There will be a day of reckoning between us, this I promise you." I recited softly to myself; suddenly I felt an arm wrap around my waist and I glanced in surprise to find Rogue offering her support despite all of the eyes watching us.

"Ah'm sorry sugah." She whispered leaning into her half embrace and revealing that she too was crying; I nearly lost myself there and wanted to wrap my own arm around her, but I knew that might be construed as going to far on Logan's part so instead I gave a little nod.

"It is time." I informed turning the both of us to face the assembled men and women and revealing my lightsaber to them; Professor Xavier caught the meaning to my words and was about to say something when all hell broke loose…

To Be Continued


	16. Chapter 16 Tempest

**Author's Notes:** This IS it, the final battle between the Avengers, X-Men and the Red Skull, B.A.T's it's going to feature something of a doozy; I won't reveal what, but let's just say when I say that Alain is Nigh-Immortal, I MEAN Nigh-Immortal. Oh yes, please R&R folks I really want to know what you think of this, if you're reading it.

The usual disclaimers apply; I claim to own nothing except Alain and Amy... Who isn't in any more chapters now that she's returned to the Star Trek universe, but hey I just love to mention her.

* * *

Five minutes earlier; he stood among his hordes grinning insanely as they waited patiently for his orders, this time all of those in the mansion would fall and none would remain alive. Unfortunate that they would miss his grand accession, but that was how things had to be if he was to achieve ultimate victory; he would not fail again.

"Begin the attack." He ordered grinning darkly as the first battalion of BATs made their way to the teleportation device.

* * *

"Avengers' Assemble!" Captain America cried as gun fire and explosions rocked the mansions outer defenses; Iron-Man, Scarlet Witch, The Wasp, Hawkeye, and Black Widow, _alright I finally remembered her name._ Leapt into action; Bobby eyed the group with a funny expression on his face and turned to me as the X-Men began to head out and suit up.

"Why don't we have a catch phrase like that?" He wondered for no particular reason.

"Because X-Men Xpedite wouldn't have the same ring." I returned with a chuckle; he quirked an eyebrow at my turn of phrase and hastily made his own exit.

"Allan." The Professor exclaimed worriedly. "Jubilee, Illyana and Kitty were outside stargazing."

"Slag!" I cursed vaulting over the couch and dashing out the door; I raced alongside the Avengers who were surprised to find I'd caught up.

"Since when did you become an Avenger?" Cap asked seriously; though I could tell he was doing his part to keep the mood light before we got outside to join the battle.

"Since the X-teens were stuck outside before Skull boy made his move." I shot back dashing ahead of the group; thus it was that I emerged onto the front steps first to behold a sight out of the old GIJoe cartoon, with a lot less Technicolor amusement. Five battalions of B.A.Ts had arrived and were making their way through the defenses while more continued to arrive via some form of primitive looking transporter; _I say primitive mainly because it doesn't have the flashy special effects_, The Red Skull was standing to the right of his arriving troops. He wore an old style German Officers jacket complete with matching military trousers, boots and gloves; underneath that barely visible was some sort of body armor, I figured that was how he controlled the B.A.Ts.  
Seeing his particular disfigurement up close and personal sent a shudder of pure fear down my spine; I hadn't figured he'd be so imposing, but with the Nazi axis resting on his upper left arm it brought home his entire world view in one highly disturbing visual aide. Iron-Man leapt out into the air from behind me while Wasp chose to reduce her size and try a surprise attack on the Skull herself; Hawkeye knocked one of his arrows and Cap rested a hand on my shoulder briefly as a sign of encouragement.

"Ah, Captain America I knew you would be here." Skull sneered as Black Widow and Wanda took up flanking positions to our left and right.

"You shall not claim victory this day." Captain America stated surprising me with how he managed to make something so corny sound decent coming from him; Widow leapt aside as a hail of gunfire tore across the yard directly at us only to halt ten inches from us and fall harmlessly to the ground.

"It pays to have gravitational abilities." I remarked with a chuckle.

"Winds of destiny change!" Scarlet Witch exclaimed resulting in several nearby BATs to crumble; their bodies now covered in rust or shooting off gears, cogs and circuit boards left and right.

"Remind me to avoid getting hit by one of those." I muttered to no one in particular as Cap hurled his trademark shield out across the battlefield; it collided with three BATs located dead center of their battalions triggering their self-detonation protocols and resulting in a thinning of the ranks. By now the X-Men had swapped their casual wear for battle attire and joined us outside; Kurt used his masterful agility to aid in dropping Logan close to the Red Skull, unfortunately he was swarmed immediately by the BATs closest to their twisted master. _Typical programs; annoying if you ask me._ Cyclops complete with blue spandex-like outfit and visor, which looked a tad more streamlined then I remember it ever having been and come to think of it his outfit wasn't as garish. And Jean in her Phoenix attire leapt into action almost at once covering Beast and Piotr as they also made a beeline for the skull; weapons fire screamed bouncing off of Piotr who was offering cover for his comrade. Iceman and Gambit joined us by the front steps and used their abilities to offer cover for the Avengers; Cap shoved me towards the steps.

"Your turn to make a move Rutherford." He reminded; I nodded in agreement and raised my hilt, the familiar snap-hiss rang out and the crimson light bathed the patch of grass I now stood upon.

"Don't short out Kilowatt." Logan quipped despite where he was; I ignored his jibe and felt my concern skyrocket as Rogue and Ororo at last joined the fray; Betsy must have been staying inside to help protect the Professor. Now for my first priority; locate the X-teens in all this racket and mess, and pray to God that they were still safe.  
Fireworks shot up from near the left side of the building and I immediately dashed over there; as I made my way around the corner I caught sight of Quicksilver racing to join the fray.

"So Cap must have called for backup, why am I not surprised he got here first?" I muttered to myself turning back to the matter at hand; the sight that met me was one out of some kind of horror novel, Kitty was huddling close to Illyana tears streaking across her face while Jubilee kept blinding the BATs that were swarming them hoping to keep them away before it was too late. Blood was gushing from a wound on Illyana's chest and one near Kitty's left hand; they'd had no warning and now they were hurt all because of my damn presence here. With a scream of rage I waded into the BATs hacking away left and right.  
"STUPID!" I cried hoarsely as tears of guilty rage began to course down my cheeks. "SLAGGING!" I continued unleashing a flurry of electrical energies into the farthest of the attackers. "CIRCUIT!" I continued using bad judgment on my part perhaps as I crushed most of the remaining BATs with the gravimetric equivalent to a black hole. "SYSTEMS!" I screamed one final time smashing the pommel of my blade into the lone surviving assailants' facemask and shattering his optic lens; I made doubly sure that no one else was around and whirled to face the three girls. Illyana was breathing shallowly and I fell to my knees beside her in fear for her life.

"Rutherford." Wasp suddenly called out as she came rushing around the corner of the mansion a dark burn on her left arm; her attempt obviously failed.

"Just five minutes!" I snapped turning my head to glare at her. "I've got to try something before she bleeds to death."  
Closing my eyes I reached out with my mind tapping into my magnetic abilities I unleashed a, well I guess you'd call it a magnetic feeler; a sort of limited sixth sense that granted me clarity if I focused hard enough. The Professor could sense what I was attempting and he offered what aid he could; first I removed the bullet from Kitty, it wasn't as deep as Illyana's and thus easier to locate. Speeding up her blood by focusing on the iron naturally stored there I hastened the body's natural healing ability, which allowed her wound to close faster though her arm would still hurt and I could do nothing to eliminate the scar.  
Kitty continued to weep openly despite her miraculous recovery, but I had no further time to dwell upon her; now was the far more delicate procedure. I reached deeper into Illyana searching out the bullet; my stomach churned as I found not one, but three laying nestled one beside the other very close to her heart. One had pierced her left lung; fortunately the others had been kept from causing further harm by their successful compatriot. With a low growl I gently and oh so carefully proceeded to remove the nearest bullet; as soon as the pressure was gone her heartbeat began to accelerate back to a normal rhythm.  
Next I took my time pulling the second dangerous object from her chest and once I felt it collide with the palm of my hand I let out a slight sigh of relief; this last bullet would prove easier then the first too because it was a misshapen lump compared to its relatively intact brothers. Once it too was out I forced her body to reabsorb most of the blood it had lost due to the injury and hastened the healing process once again; I slumped to the ground exhausted with the effort, but smiling despite myself because I'd done something I never imagined I could.  
Illyana moaned slightly; Kurt popped in and gently picked her up, Jubilee moved to stand beside him worry across her features. Kitty however hung back briefly and kissed me on the cheek leaving some of her tears behind. Gripping my lightsaber I slowly returned to my feet and narrowed my eyes in rage; once again Q had proved fallible and thus someone else had been hurt because of me.

"Come on." Wasp urged her voice tinged with worry for our comrades.

"That's it." I hissed. "No more mister nice guy." I added; leaping into the air I dashed back around to the opposite side of the mansion; a few of the others glanced up briefly just in time to hear my cry… "Trans-Tech Armor Engage!" The watch unfurled instantly; moving to my call so quickly that Shadow hovered above the battle a mere ten seconds after my command, my optics flared and I dove straight for the Skull.  
Bullets sang out as almost every BAT tried to stop me, but I would not be stopped; my armor prevented me from suffering injuries and my magnetic barrier caused the bullets to ricochet like mosquitoes slamming into a bug screen. I slammed into the ground with bone jarring force knocking the few BATs close enough to the Skull to matter aside, my lightsaber hovering bare inches from his neck; here I stood face to face with pure evil and it sickened me.

"Ah the wayward soul at last." He intoned in that thick German accent that was impossibly filled with pure malice and the mad lust for power, there wasn't even a trace of fear knowing that he was mere inches away from death changed nothing.

"You're one to talk, just how many times have you cheated death?" I demanded hardly interested in the matter though secretly longing to prolong this confrontation.

"What does it matter?" He scoffed with a shrug. "All inferiors shall fall beneath my heel; it is only a mere matter of time." He continued with a sinister chuckle.

"We are superior!" I proclaimed angrily. "It is you who are inferior for it is you who refuse to accept when you are beaten, you who deny the simple truth that destiny is inevitable." I accused vehemently removing my lightsaber for the briefest of moments and poking him in the chest. This proved to be my own downfall; the armor beneath his clothing sprang to life shooting me with untold amounts of energy and since I hadn't been prepared for it I could not absorb it as I had Electro's blasts. My armor automatically reverted to watch form and my chest felt as if it were on fire; the Red Skull grinned triumphantly at my foolishness and swiftly clamped an odd device onto my chest. He then proceeded to lash out with one of his booted feet sending me reeling into a pile of BATs who swarmed me at once; though they did not attack, I heard a high pitched shrieking sound coming from the device and realization hit mere moments before my world became one giant explosion.

To Be Concluded


	17. Chapter 17 Angel of Death

**Author's Notes:** Well; it is here at last, my final chapter for Avenger's Assemble and alas the final chapter of my Crisis on Earth 929 series I intend to post for the moment... Just not enough reviews to warrant continual posting of a story no one seems interested in. Oh well; I'm certain some annonymous readers must have been out and about enjoying this; I'd hate to think it's not even being read by anyone.

The usual disclaimer applies; only Al belongs to me and those ascociated with his life on Earth Prime... Fair warning, this final chapter will reveal just What it means to be Nigh-Immortal for the young Technorganic Borg... Of course that's why this is a Rated R fic, so if you're squemish about certain things, well don't say I didn't warn ya. (Although I doubt I went into too much detail; not enough really to scar anybody, just enough hopefully to aid in the envisioning process.)

* * *

"No!" Ororo screamed turning her head from the massive funeral pyre; despite his earlier words she still believed that none could have survived that. The others renewed their efforts determined to finish this; even as Rogue collapsed her mind closing off to the world around her and the danger this posed. However the BATs had been ordered to allow the Skull the pleasure of killing his victims; thus as soon as they ceased fighting back they were ignored and placed under guard.  
In fact as each of the X-Men soon became captured one BAT in each group swiftly clamped a mutant inhibitor collar around their necks; the Red Skull marveled at his victory for soon only Logan and Captain America continued the valiant struggle.

"Enough of this, it is useless to resist." He proclaimed pulling out an old German pistol and levering it on the heads of Jean and Wasp; this forced both warriors to cease their attempts and Logan was quickly collared.

"As long as there is breath in my body I will resist you." Cap countered despite his obvious failure to adhere to this proclamation.

"A pathetic sentiment; for you have lost." Skull stated; he marched before his prisoners puffing with pride for he had succeeded in all possible ways, he finally stood before his greatest nemesis and a twisted smile crossed his lips. "This shall mark the final time we meet; for at long last I have succeeded and you shall perish as will all your pathetic allies." He proclaimed triumphantly lowering his pistol to fire point blank between Captain America's eyes; suddenly the familiar snap-hiss of Allan's blade rang out across the now silent battlefield and all eyes were drawn to the smoldering flames where Rutherford had fallen.  
They could not pull away even when they heard the unmistakable, sickening sound of something moving within those writhing flames; the Red Skulls eyes widened in sudden fear as the particular something emerged. Allan Rutherford stood before him; though not as the man he had been before that devastating explosion, instead he was a mere blackened and scorched skeleton with jagged chunks of rotted flesh hanging at key areas.  
A shriveled and burnt heart beat within his rib-cage despite the impossibility of it all and two warped, glassed over eyeballs possessing neither pupil nor iris swiveled within the sunken sockets of his skull to glare directly at the Skull as big and lifeless as twin black orbs. His chest rattled as air was sucked through it and a rasping ancient sounding voice emerged…

"Your angle of death awaits you." He gasped his tone devoid of any humanity whatsoever before moving inexorably towards the Skull; BATs opened fire only to have their bullets fly through the skeletal remains and vanish into the night. Allan continued to march forward flames still licking at his back and dancing out behind him as if he was wearing a cloak composed of flame and ash; his feet crunched upon the Earth as they propelled this walking corpse continuously forward.

"Nein!" The Skull cried in terror. "Ausbleiben!" The man that was no longer a man failed to heed his pleas and he soon stood before the Skull who had fallen to his knees and was begging for his life; unfortunately there was no soul within this beast to show any compassion for it had been locked away into a recess of what remained of the brain so that the Nanoprobes could effect repairs. Thus it was that they controlled the body's actions and in one fell swoop the Red Skull lost his head; literally, it rolled onto the Earth and came to a stop at the foot of this monstrosity.

"Let us see you return from the grave now." It hissed almost though not quite sounding whole once more; and then the lightsaber clattered to the ground and the body collapsed what little light remained fading from the eyes. A stunned silence fell across the others as every BAT crumpled to the ground deactive; Kurt, Betsy and the Professor rushed out to free their friends from the collars and help the Avengers. Everyone couldn't help, but stare at the remains of Allan Rutherford. A sudden blinding flash lit the area and Q returned he approached the Professor wordlessly and handed him a small rectangular device with glowing lights.

"You'll need this to speed up his own repairs; otherwise he'll be like that for weeks." He supplied.

"How does it work?" The Professor inquired; Q removed the attachment and pressed it into the Professors' other hand.

"Run this part over him; it's already been set to the proper function, it should take a few hours to get him out of Stalfos land." He explained using a term none of those present recognized; Q merely grinned bemusedly and vanished once more.

"Ah'll do it Professah." Rogue proclaimed removing the device from his grasp. "Kurt help mah get him intah the infirmary." She requested; Kurt nodded and gently hefted the body, the two vanished in a cloud of brimstone scented smoke and the others continued to regard the fallen form of the Skull shaken to the core by what they had seen.

* * *

Not far away Marissa Fairborne smiled approvingly at the actions of this strange mutant; he was still alive from what she gathered and thus would be able to be spoken to at a later date and congratulated for his accomplishment, but first she had to inform the Commander.

* * *

"How can that man continue to live?" The source demanded ranting in rage at the impossibility of it all.

"He is far more dangerous then we realized." His lover observed gently stroking his hair in an effort to calm him down. "Next time he will not be so lucky." She continued smiling proudly at her beloved. "Besides we wanted the Skull terminated." She reminded.

"I know." He sighed allowing his consort to sooth him. "But I had hoped that perhaps I could have the satisfaction of terminating him." He revealed dejectedly.

"In time you will be able to do whatever you want; provided those idiotic Decepticons don't interfere with our plans." She cooed moving to straddle her lover and beginning to rock back and forth on his lap as she kissed him.

"Wait my love; before I partake of this rich bounty." He began eyeing her with a lust filled stare that lingered upon her firm and ample bosom. "We should prepare our next assailant."

"Oh that is simple." She returned with a wave of dismissal as two entities appeared being dragged from the shadows. "They should serve amply." She added with a twisted smile; he eyed her choices with great joy and pulled her back into the kiss before pushing her off.

"Indeed they shall, but I do not perform for an audience." He snarled rising from his throne and moving towards his bedchambers.

"Yes master." She returned in a supplicating tone; bowing her head low she swiftly moved to follow after reveling at the prospects of what the night would bring.

To Be Continued if anyone shows any true interest in this series and wishes me to do so; until then look for Of Gods and Women, Part One to be posted up in the Xena: Warrior Princess section very soon, at last the beginnings of the tale can be told and the story of how our intrepid hero arrived at this point will unfold for those of you truly interested in what I have dubbed, My Masterpiece... Also titled Chrysalis, what I would consider to be an exceptionally long and perhaps drawn out Novel of Epic Proportions.


	18. Chapter 18 Comprehensive Timeline

**Chrysalis Timeline**

**Earth 929 Year 1992 April 13TH;** Alain Desrochers dates Jennifer McMahon for the first time, Unicron secretly employs an agent of Cobra-La to leave the book detailing Shadow Magic in Jennifers' school locker setting events in motion to ensure the arrival of Earth Primes' Alain Desrochers in the year 2003. _Source: Unwritten Talia & Darkholme Issue Number 1._

**Earth 929 Year 1994 May 27TH; **Jerrica Benton, the Holograms, their Associates, The Misfits and their Associates are mistakenly removed from Earth 929 by Saturnyne the Omniversal Majestrix due to outside interference from Merlyn. Roma chooses to use them for their mission to Earth 1302 in place of the Earth 656 counterparts intended to be used thus granting the assembled cast knowledge of the Omniverse for their future friendships surrounding a young man they currently have no knowledge on.  
Roughly five months later possibly; Unicron ensures that Kang the Conqueror will mistakenly apprehend all those living in Starlight Mansion thus ensuring that the Starlight Girls will also be aware of the Omniverse, the reason for this is still uncertain, but Primus has speculated that the Dark God wished to manipulate Alain's future ties with the Starlight Girls to unspecific ends. _Source Flashback: Crisis on Earth 929 Final Chaos and Unwritten Prelude to Crisis: Kang & The Starlight Girls._

**Earth Prime Year 1995 September 6TH; **Reanne McMahon previous Chosen of God loses the full power of her bloodline and begins to pay great attention to her daughters' boyfriends seeking the next Chosen. _Source: Off-Screen Event Never Written._

**Earth 929 Year 1997 August 10TH; **Jennifer and Alain finally become Talia and Darkholme beginning the process of harvesting Chaos energies in small amounts so as not to be noticed by Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange, several classmates of the duo most notably Christine Delisle, Candace Berard, Pamela Noel and Nicole Desroches (No relation) disappear. _Source: Unwritten Talia & Darkholme Issue Number 2._

**Starlight Citadel Timeline Uncertain; **Roma at last discerns the presence of total Chaos brewing on Earth 929 and sends Spider-Girl of Earth 107 to ferret out the source of the growing Chaotic forces threatening to destabilize the Omniversal balance. _Source: Unwritten Talia & Darkholme Issue Number 2 and 3._

**Earth Prime Year 2000 June 20TH; **Alain Desrochers Graduates High School and is faced with a lonely future as he knows nothing of what is expected of him, Reanne begins to despair as the Demons collect more souls to break the Gates of Hell open wide. _Source: Off-Screen Event Never Written._

**Earth 929 Year 2002 July 4TH; **Spider-Girl is enslaved by Shadow King under orders of Darkholme, Wheeljack begins plans to build the Infinity Engine, unseen by all Unicron is pleased at the progress of his pawns. Talia briefly faces the Ghost Rider revealing her presence and her plans indirectly to Mephistopheles, Blade the Vampire Hunter encounters Darkholme during a raid on a nest, and a Pocket Dimension is accidentally destroyed resulting in the unleashing of the Shadow Warg from their long ago banishment, Talia begins to tame them as pets. _Source: Unwritten Talia & Darkholme Issue Number 4 and 5 and 6._

**Earth Prime Year 2003 September 13TH Give or Take; **Alain telephones Jennifer; God ensures the call will be disappointing; the Omniverse becomes common knowledge to Alain Albert-Joseph Desrochers. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess; Of Gods and Women, Part One._

**Starlight Citadel Timeline Uncertain; **Roma enlists the aid of Arachnia AKA Gwen Stacy from Earth 3062; the choice of heroes reflecting ties to Spider-Man is due to manipulations in the Starlight Citadels' systems by Merlyn, Roma's father. Reasons unknown. _Source: Unwritten Talia & Darkholme Issue 6 Epilogue._

**Earth Designation Unrevealed Timeline Unspecified; **Alain Desrochers encounters Xena forcibly, God causes amnesia to ensure her champion shall take his training seriously, Unicron begins actively observing events from afar as his manipulations begin to take hold of the human.  
Taking the name Alumni; Alain journeys with the Warrior Princess and the Battling Bard and begins learning the proper use of the sword, he begins to bulk up and tone his body eliminating the fat. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess; Of Gods and Women, Part One._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 January 3RD; **Arachnia is captured by Talia and Darkholme becoming a sexual plaything for the duo replacing the most likely deceased former missing classmates; Wheeljack perfects the Infinity Engine and begins testing, Time Travelers from a future date and time inadvertently arrive in undocumented encounter between the Fantastic Four and a team claiming to be Salvation, they are led by a woman of unspecified origins and trick Johnny Storm Alias The Human Torch into returning with them to the future. _Source: Unwritten Salvation Issue Numbers Unknown; The Human Torch Saga and Talia & Darkholme Issue Number 7._

**Abbreviation Xena's Earth Timeline Still Unspecified; **Ares and Hera take a vested interest in Alumni; Ares uses a special poison to make communication possible, due to fragmented memories Alumni continues to train uncertain of his origins, but needing the skills to survive Hera convinces Hercules that Alumni is a dangerous threat; other players also become involved as the Heroes are gathered to protect the young man and facilitate his training all engineered by Zeus of course. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess; Of Gods and Women, Part One._

**Coruscant 177 Roughly 15 000 Years before the Foundation of the First Galactic Republic; **Jedi Knight Sarill Contrelle journeying to the planet Mustafar as part of her Jedi Trials is reborn upon ascending to the rank of Jedi Master, an unknown female party giving the name Quinlee is responsible for her newfound immortality, the Force reveals all to Master Sarill. _Source: Unwritten Star Wars Tales of the Jedi Order Story._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 February 23RD; **Techrat is approached by Predacon warrior Waspinator in disguise; Darkholme begins capturing his villainous pawns in preparation of the big push, Mephistopheles appears to the current Ghost Rider warning of dire portent and enlists his services to claim the Eye of Agamotto, the attempt fails though it does force Stephen Strange off of Earth 929 for the remainder of the year leaving a doppelganger under the control of Mephistopheles in his place. _Source: Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929 Ghost Rider Prelude to Crisis and Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929 Chronicles of Waspinator the Twenty-First Century._

**Xena's Earth Timeline Still Unspecified; **Alumni spends time in Athens undergoing intense physical training; Autolycus gets him in trouble with a tribe of Centaurs, but Xena manages to get him out. Unicron is well pleased at the progress of Alumni; fully aware what is to come he begins preparations to start the human on his path to the second unseen Destiny linking Alain to Cybertron forevermore, Past, Present and Future. _Source: Unwritten Tales of Suspense Issue Number 0 Alumni & Autolycus Vs. The Centaurs._

**Coruscant 177 18 Years before Star Wars The Phantom Menace; **Master Contrelle emerges from the planet Mustafar and engages battle with a Sith Lord by the name of Darth Sidious on the planet of Naboo, her attempt to prevent the fall of the Jedi Order fails, she flees into hiding and awaits the time of the Clone Wars vanishing seemingly from existence on the planet Dagobah. _Source: Unwritten Tales of Suspense Issue Number 1 Jedi Vs. Sith._

**Xena's Earth Timeline Still Unspecified; **Alumni journeys with Xena and experiences numerous adventures alongside his two mentors; during the Hind incident Alumni and Velasca are both kidnapped by Tarantulas acting under orders from Unicron, Unicron implants the spark that will become Tarantulas 929 within the flesh body of Alumni, forcibly usurping the young mans' true destiny and sub-planting it with that of a more favorable and necessary fate. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess; Of Gods and Women, Part Two and Prologue to Twisted._

**Faerûn 09 Timeline Uncertain; **Alumni, Velasca and a misplaced Kender spirit by the name of Tasslehoff Burrfoot fail in their quest to lay claim to the Dark Matrix from Cybertron 118 from the hands of the Drow of Menzoberranzan. Alumni's altered personality is forgotten and he is returned to Xena's Earth dismissing his stray memories as a trick of the Gods; within the spark of Tarantulas 929 begins to plot recapturing the flesh form of Alumni to continue his service to a being he has forgotten, obviously Unicron. _Source: Twisted._

**Earth Prime Hell Dimension; **Lucifer begins to prepare the power to breach Hells' Gates and conquer humanity along with the Earth; Time on Earth is no longer in motion however Time in Hell continues to beat faster towards the fated release of all Demonkin, The Secretary chooses to leave these scenes of darkness unseen to those regarding the chronicled history of Alain Albert-Joseph Desrochers of Earth Prime. _Source: Off-Screen Event Never Written._

**Xena's Earth Timeline Still Unspecified; **Alumni travels with Xena further the Ambrosia stolen from Callisto still hidden; he encounters Diana the Pagan Goddess and faces a tribe of Uruk-Hai; led by Damocles, the origins of the Uruk are unknown, Alain becomes Justice for the first time. Suffering a mortal wound he ingests the Ambrosia; the cultivating Spark of Tarantulas 929 uses this chance to resume control of the body assuming Godhood and proclaiming himself God of Chaos, due to fragmented memories Alumni does not recall anything of his mission to Faerûn. Instead he proceeds to wipe out whole villages of innocent souls while Xena, Gabrielle, Iolaus, Hercules and Joxer meet Toley one of Gods special guides; believing Alain's soul to have fragmented into two separate souls due to his amnesia and the fact that Unicron has hidden his machinations thoroughly from the eyes of God and Primus Toley sends his friends into his astral plane to save Alumni/Alain from death.  
In the end Tarantulas 929 is forcibly rejected from Alain's body taking on briefly a corporeal flesh form that is swiftly terminated by Toley's mate; thus Alain is saved and begins to learn more about his First Destiny. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess; Of Gods and Women, Part Two and Xena Warrior Princess & Hercules The Legendary Journeys; God of Chaos._

**Earth 929 Timeframe Unclear; **Unicron reclaims the spark that was Alumni who still has no recollection of the events surrounding its' origins; in fact it still believes itself to be a mortal soul and possesses a human appearance. Agreeing to Unicrons' false assurances Alumni the Spark is reformatted completely and finally turned into the Cybertronian Life Form destined to be; Tarantulas 929, though Tarantulas's memories have been altered so that all vestiges of his past life as a human are erased he completely understands that he has Unique Origins from those of Cybertronian Descent. _Source: Xena Warrior Princess & Hercules The Legendary Journeys; God of Chaos Epilogue._

**Earth Alpha Quadrant 18 Stardate Possibly 49504.3; **Having completed his training on Xena's Earth Alain is sent to the 24TH century and Q; first he must understand the nuances of the technology and survive the harsh wilds of the Delta Quadrant aboard the Starship Voyager, friendships are forged with Megan and Jenny Delaney and Ensign Samantha Wildman. _Source: Star Trek Voyager; Learning Curve; A New Frontier._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 March 15TH; **Darkholme and Talia continue unseen manipulations; Wheeljack and Optimus Prime place the Infinity Engine under SHIELD protection in secret and use deception and subterfuge to prevent the Decepticons from initially discovering the engines' absence, Cobra forces resurrect Serpentor from his death-like stasis and events begin to interconnect due to the presence of the Chaos Bringer. The Power Infinity Gem becomes the property of Reed Richards for a brief time, with it he discovers the Autobots' Infinity Engine has ties to the Infinity Gems though neither seems logically possible considering the origins of the Gems and Engine. _Source: The Transformers Issue Number 85 To Harness Infinity and Crisis on Earth 929 Reed Richards; Prelude to War._

**Earth Alpha Quadrant 18 Stardate 50384.2; **Alain meets Q for the first time; he begins to find his place on Voyager, Q takes on a new identity as Hunis the Trickster and creates the belief in the Draconian race that Al is Sithicus the Destroyer. The Borg become aware of Al's presence on Voyager during the Species 8472 incident and begin preparations for assimilation. _Source: Star Trek Voyager; Learning Curve; A New Frontier and Possibly Star Trek Voyager; Assimilation; Enemy at the Gates._

**Coruscant 177 Approximately 13-15 Years After Events of A New Hope; **Sensing the arrival of Alain is imminent Master Contrelle leaves Mustafar and Discovers Callista on the planet Naboo where she battled Sidious all those long years ago, she begins to re-open the woman fully in the Force. _Source: Unwritten Tales of Suspense Issue 2 Tales of the Jedi._

**Earth Alpha Quadrant 18 Stardate Approximately 51268.4; **The Borg capture Alain and forcibly assimilate him, the process goes awry through unseen developments; some such as Alain himself believe that Q influenced the Assimilation process and as usual the Omnipotent One decides not to correct that assumption taking perverse pleasure in the blame. In truth; due to the fact that the Spider Drone Tarantulas forcibly inserted into Alain back during the whole Twisted affair the Nanoprobes themselves become conflicted as two separate and alien sets of programming intersect and combine on a sub-molecular level re-writing the young human as Unicron intended into a Technorganic Life Form of unique abilities though still possessing the characteristics of the Borg and not the Cybertronians.  
After escaping Alain and the Voyager crew must come to grips with what has happened to him; life becomes further complicated when the Draconians arrive forcing Al to act and tap once again into the powers of Justice reawakening his memories of said power.  
**Stardate 52081.2; **Q frees Omnibus, Callopias and Serenity from incarceration; his Padawan will soon encounter a real Demon and begin to put the pieces of the puzzle that is his life together. _Source: Star Trek Voyager; Assimilation; Enemy at the Gates._ **Author's Notes: So as not to confuse you I will pause here to explain further the entire Assimilation Process I have recently re-created and re-envisioned to further draw ties between Alain and Cybertron. As you have already read Alain as Alumni encountered the Tarantulas of a different reality in Twisted and in order for Alumni to control Velasca this Tarantulas placed a Spider Drone within both of them. At the end of said story Velasca puked up the Spider Drone in a liquid state as she was forcibly bound to the Kender Tasslehoff Burrfoot, but the fate of Alain's Spider Drone was never revealed… This got the Wheels in my head to turning; at one point I had decided that Q really had mucked around with the Assimilation creating the other powers and as you can see whenever we bring that up in the main body of work Q and even his son q constantly play up this fact though in truth Q being a well known master of lies never actually did anything except to awaken the latent Mutant Gene in Alain a dormant Gene that all Earth Prime residents possess unknowingly.  
****The other power, powers I should say; originate from the Assimilation of the Spider Drone; Alain's ability to manipulate and created hard light holograms for brief moments in time is a remnant of the Spider Drones' own onboard holographic communications system, the ability to harness Gravity and to a lesser though extremely finite extent the Magnetic Spectrum is a remnant of the Spider Drones' repulsor field generator, which allows certain advanced Spider Drones the ability to levitate and fly defying gravity as it were, as well as the Spider Drone's magnetic grapplers, which Tarantulas has used in the past and is my interpretation of the little claw-like appendages sometimes seen in the Beast Wars cartoon, I mean they can pick up the pieces of Tarantulas when he gets' blown to smithereens, but some of those pieces looked a little awkward and even impossible to grasp, so I figured the claws must have added magnetic grapplers to facilitate picking up awkward, larger or even smaller pieces. This also explains why Alain's and Amy's Nanoprobes resemble eight-legged arachnids and possess a sort of semi-consciousness of their own at times; since the Spider Drones are Tarantulas' version of Smart Tools or AI units, which assist him in his laboratory experiments and the like it would make sense that at times they would assume control of certain bodily functions for unspecified purposes caused perhaps by mutated or aberrant behavioral programming as a result of the assimilation. The reason why I explain this all to you here dear reader is to facilitate the explanation and also I have no intention of revealing this truth to the characters in the story in any way shape or form; it's the Author's decision after all, so my original intentions now have an underlining perhaps sinister origin concerning the abilities of Technorganic Borg and also ties Alain to Cybertron just that little bit more… Now back to the matter at hand.**

**Earth 929 Year 2003 May 27TH; **Darkholme celebrates his twenty-first birthday and enjoys the fruits of his labors, namely Jennifer and Gwen; Cobra sets in motion project B.A.T Upgrade and sets their sights on acquiring the SHIELD Helicarrier. On Cybertron the war escalates as both Autobot and Decepticon begin deep space exploration for both Energon sources to replenish depleted supplies and lost colonies hoping to bolster their ranks with Cybertronians who had grown tired with the war and left, but are now desperately needed. Ultra Magnus makes contact with the Junkions of planet Junk and discovers faint traces of Cybertronian signatures from distant planet Nebulos; the Silver Surfer returns to being Galactus' Herald when Nova (**Frankie Raye**) is incarcerated on the Shi'ar home world for aiding Thanos in slaughtering eighty billion Kree survivors.  
Unicron begins preparations for the creation of Cyclonus and Scourge; it is also theorized that at this time the Universe Conflict of Cybertron 1300 was first conceived and possibly executed. Johnny Storm; missing for Five months in the Future, or a possible Future Timeline is at last returned by a mysterious young teenager with feline inspired characteristics, he says nothing of what he saw or did or even why he was gone so long. _Source: Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929 Cobra; Prelude to Crisis and The Transformers Issue Number 89-90 Plight of the Junkions and The Silver Surfer Issues Numbered Undecided; Heralds of Galactus and Crisis on Earth 929 Johnny Storm; Prelude to Crisis._

**Earth Alpha Quadrant 18 Stardate 52143.6; **Alain discovers both Serenity and Callopias roughly around this time, Serenity the Goddess attempts to seduce him, Callopias the Demon grows eager to kill him and events rapidly spiral out of control including an incident on the Holodeck until roughly Stardate 53049.2 when Al slays Callopias in combat and begins a torrid affair with Serenity. _Source: Star Trek Voyager; Forbidden Fruit._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 June 10TH; **Chaos has clouded Earth 929 from Roma's sight almost completely; aware she requires a new champion to prevent its' destruction she begins scouring the Omniverse for the perfect hero, preferably a Counterpart to Alain Desrochers 929. Meanwhile Talia at last is fully eclipsed by Unicrons' influence as he takes a personal hand in the events he is manipulating and Megatron finally deduces that Prime has hidden the Infinity Engine amongst the humans of SHIELD. In the small kingdom of Wakanda home to Africa's premier super hero the Black Panther Waspinator, the Predacon from a future time joins forces with T-Challa, Ghost Rider and a repentant Juggernaut to prevent T-Challa's enemies from unearthing remains of the Maximal Transwarp Exploration Craft Axalon and using them against the African heroes kingdom; time seems almost to stand still as though awaiting the coming of Alain Prime. _Source: Unwritten The Transformers Issues Numbered 92-94 (Possibly) Infinity is a Long Time Coming and Chronicles of Waspinator; Waspinator & The Secret Defenders._

**Earth Alpha Quadrant 18 Stardate Unknown; **After several months possibly a year of recuperation following the battle with Callopias, Alain Desrochers meets Amy and winds up adopting her via assimilation to save her life; Amy Chelerise Desrochers changes Al's entire outlook on life. Revealing his secretly crafted Holo-Cons; sentient holographic Decepticons, Al and Voyager repel attacks by the Borg and experience a great many adventures.

**Stardate Approximately 54274.7; **Al is visited by Warren Meers of Earth Hellmouth 400 reminding him that the events of Shattered is rapidly approaching; Al takes Amy to Eternia and is in turn adopted by her family, it is believed by Historians of Al and those around him that Serenity was impregnated close to this Stardate as well. Once returned to Voyager events continue on until fated Stardate 549703.4 when Admiral Janeway of one possible future arrives and leads her younger self into the destined event resulting in Voyager at last coming home to the Alpha Quadrant. Transporting over to the Enterprise Alain gets' his house in order and faces Omnibus at last; the Demon Overlord almost kills him, but he succeeds in destroying the Demons' physical form. _Source: Star Trek Voyager; War Against the Collective and Star Trek The Next Generation; Home and Heartache._

**Starlight Citadel Time Unspecified; **Roma recruits Alain to aid in ending the Crisis on Earth 929; none of the players are ever told how long this Chaotic anomaly has been growing, Al devastated at being torn away from Amy agrees only after Roma promises to reunite them. _Source: Crisis on Earth 929; Of Spiders and Mutants._

**Omniversal Passageway Unknown Moment in Time; **Unicron prevents Omnibus' spiritual essence from following Al to enact revenge, the non-corporeal Demon Overlord begins his search for a realm capable of restoring his physical form and seems to be almost forgotten by the players involved. _Source: Star Trek The Next Generation; Home and Heartache Epilogue._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 June 23RD possibly July 5TH; **Al arrives on Earth 929 in Central Park Early Morning; he encounters Spider-Man in brief after tangling with Electro, and then is inadvertently assaulted by Professor Charles Xavier founder of the X-Men mistaken for Magneto. Under the assumed name Allan Pendragon Rutherford our intrepid hero begins his mission with the X-Men; a guest in their mansion, he is targeted by the Brotherhood under Darkholmes' control, rescues Spider-Girl by killing Shadow King, meets with Spider-Man again to help Spider-Girl, briefly encounters Lawyer Matt Murdoch and is stopped by the Brotherhood a second time along with Curt Connors AKA The Lizard before he can meet Doctor Strange. All on Earth 929 remain unaware that the current Doctor Strange is a facsimile and the real Stephen Strange is currently trapped in the Dark Dimension battling minions of Dormammu. _Source: Crisis on Earth 929 Of Spiders' and Mutants and Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929 Doctor Strange Title Undecided._

**Coruscant 177 25-30 Years After A New Hope; **Master Contrelle and Callista rescue Lusa from a Vornskyr attack as the Yuuzhan Vong invasion grows into a truly epic development, Chewbacca and Anakin Solo lose their lives during the mounting war. _Source: Star Wars The New Jedi Order series of Novels/E-Novels and Tales of Suspense Issue Number 3 Vornskyr Attack._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 Exact Date Undetermined; **Alain is targeted by the Red Skull and an army of B.A.Ts' stolen from Cobra under the influence of Darkholme; the X-Men, Avengers and others put a stop to the attack on Manhattan and Westchester, Al kills the Red Skull be beheading him with his Lightsaber. Invited to an evening affair by Tony Stark Al and Rogue begin to slowly discover their mutual attraction for one another is more then just hormones, Wilson Fisk, Norman Osborn and Peter Parker are notable characters of Earth 929 also present at the unveiling.  
Venom and Carnage both attack due to Darkholme once again influencing events; Al, Spider-Man and Iron-Man fend them off, days later a team of X-Men, Spider-Man and Spider-Girl face them on the Brooklyn Bridge. Venom flees after Cletus Kasady is killed and the Carnage symbiote captured, Cobra owes Al a debt due to events surrounding Red Skull; Al enlists their aid at this point in time in finding answers to this entire mess.  
Eric Raymond sells out Gabor Oil to the Decepticons as Misfits' Music closes due to Bankruptcy; Al leaves New York and winds up in Los Angeles at Starlight Mansion, Jerrica and the others take him in, during his stay he meets Ricochet, Vixen and Synergy three Maximals from the Axalon as it turns out. Kills Spectro, Spyglass and Viewfinder with help from Cyclops and Jean, begins actively interacting with the Autobots, thwarts a kidnapping attempt, brokers deals with Cobra, the Autobots and Q, visits with Amy, helps young Nancy Cates deal with her mutation and takes the next step in his relationship with Rogue.  
Following major events surrounding Cobra, GIJoe the Transformers and their God Primus the Crisis of Earth 929 begins to reach the boiling point; Darkholme is ousted after pitting the Brotherhood against the Sinister Six; meanwhile Unicron and Tarantulas take the souls of the humans Cletus Kasady, Serpentor and the Red Skull AKA Johann Schmidt and once purging all traces of their past lives has been accomplished, Unicron uses said souls all of whom were directly or indirectly killed in their mortal life by Al to reformat and create the sparks of the Predacons Cicadacon, Seaclamp and Ramhorn; destined to become the Tripredacus Council and a future thorn in Rutherfords' side. _Source: Crisis on Earth 929: Avengers' Assemble and Crisis on Earth 929: Rampage in NYC and Crisis on Earth 929: Sea of Turmoil and Crisis on Earth 929: Terror Approaches and Crisis on Earth 929: More Than Meets the Eye._

**Earth X-1007 Circa 1942; **Warren Meers; having been forgotten by all journeys to this point in time of Earth X-1007 after engineering the deaths of numerous heroes including Superman and Batman, his goal is to enslave an army of heroines to conquer the Omniverse, but in truth Q is manipulating him to create a future team of Super Villains to face off against Alain and a future team of Super Heroes the young man will lead in service of Roma called Salvation, Warren's first target for slave training is Wonder Woman at a time when she is young and inexperienced… Harbinger; a new Demonic threat is also born due to Warren's incompetence and the beginnings of a truly dangerous team of adversaries is set in motion. _Source: Untitled Primarily Adult Story featuring Wonder Woman and Warren AKA Zeus._

**Earth 929 Year 2003 Month of August leading possibly into September; **Alain faces a plethora of events and villains as the Final Chaos draws nigh, The Sinister Six, Cobra, Darkholme, the Decepticons, the Green Goblin and others become embroiled in the massive up-surgence of mounting Chaos until at last, after killing his Earth 929 counterpart and facing down a Decepticon threat of spectacular origins Al engages in battle with Talia… Many casualties occur, but in the end Chaos is averted and the Infinity Engine destroyed; forced to leave Rogue and Amy behind Al moves on to conclude his training and hopefully return to Earth Prime at last.  
Other events entangled within this time include a brief encounter between Spider-Man, Spider-Girl and the Green Goblin, a battle with the Decepticons involving the Dinobots, and the mystical confrontation between Doctor Strange, Ghost Rider, Dormammu, Mephistopheles and the Doctor Strange Doppelganger all within the Dark Dimension. The Fantastic Four are also believed to have been taken out of the game due to a development in the Negative Zone, but remains unconfirmed. _Source: Crisis on Earth 929: Final Chaos and Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929: Spider-Girl Laugh of the Goblin and Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929: Doctor Strange Untitled Tale and Unwritten Crisis on Earth 929: Coda._

**Coruscant 177 25-30 Years After A New Hope; **Al arrives on Mon Cal and briefly interacts with the Solos' and Skywalkers' before Master Contrelle, Callista and Lusa arrive to take him to Mustafar; whereupon he completes his training, masters Justice and… _Source: Star Wars The New Jedi Order: Perspective and Star Wars The New Jedi Order: Potential._

**Earth Prime Year 2003 September 13TH; **Alain Albert-Joseph Desrochers returns home and begins remodeling his bedroom; Master Contrelle has accompanied him and the Force is no longer a part of her as she begins a new life on Earth Prime, in Hell Lucifer feels his presence, Jen and Christine talk briefly on the phone and Reanne prays for divine intervention. Meanwhile The Secretary has a special meeting with two individuals; Kal-El of a different Earth-Prime and Dawn Summers of Earth Hellmouth 75, the purpose of this meeting with Dawn Summers is never revealed. Other parties also briefly show interest in young Alain of Earth-Prime among them The Doctor, Daniel Jackson of SG-1 and Mxyzptlx. _Source: Star Wars The New Jedi Order: Potential and Interlude._

**Earth Hellmouth 36 Timeframe Uncertain; **Omnibus's spiritual essence escapes the Omniverse passageways and begins to amass mystical energy to return; Alain is sent to aid the Slayer in stopping Omnibus once and for all, events must happen quickly for Earth Prime is soon to be in dire need of Alain its' Chosen Champion. _Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Meets Sithicus._

**Earth Prime Year 2003 September 14TH; **Jennifer converses with Christine her best friend because of the phone call to Alain; q bears witness to this moment and amuses himself with the thought of the two coming together at last. _Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Meets Sithicus Interlude._

**Earth X-1007 Circa 2005;** Warren targets his next victims Kara Zor-El Alias Supergirl and Kara Zor-L Alias Power Girl to continue enslaving his army. _Source: Unwritten/Untitled Primary Adult Oriented Story Featuring Warren._

**Earth Hellmouth 36 Timeline Uncertain; **With Omnibus now destroyed completely and no longer a threat; Alain is approached by Whistler in order to assist the Powers that Be in restoring the Balance destroyed by Omnibus' unwitting presence on this version of Buffy's world. In order to accomplish this task; Alain must resurrect Tara McClay using Federation technology and drugs proven to work on others in the past and also recruit the long absent Scooby Oz the Reluctant Werewolf as it were to aid him in the city of Tokyo, Japan. It is revealed by the Sensei of the Light Dojo that ancient spirits once walked the Earth long ago; these spirits not destined to return until after the Slayer managed to defeat the First Evil and seal Sunnydale's Hellmouth manage to escape thanks to Omnibus and set into motion the rise once again of the Elementals.  
Al must convince a young Chinese girl by the name of Mei Lin that she is the Chosen One; destined to lead a team of four young women against the forces of the Spirits themselves, with the aid of Oz and Tara he must find a way to rewrite what Fate truly has in store for all. _Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Dark Alliances and Partially Buffy the Vampire Slayer Inherent Evil._

**Earth 929 Year 2004 April 28TH; **Amy Chelerise Rutherford holds a training session with Professor Charles Xavier in order to expand her telepathic skills. _Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Dark Alliances Interlude._

**Limbo Timeline Uncertain: Possible Future Events Revealed; **The Dark God Unicron holds a brief conference with Mega Zarak discussing events not yet part of the official Timeline; Mega Zarak informs his Master that Nemesis Prime has managed to procure the Dark Matrix on Eternia thanks to the unwitting assistance of young Alain Desrochers. Unicron leaves to harness the powers of Chaos being unleashed during the Autobot/Decepticon Conflict on Cybertron 5089 in order to restore his Planetary Body while trapped in a smaller form; The Universe Conflict is mentioned in brief, the reasons for this upset in the Timeline are uncertain, but information regarding the events surrounding Alain on Eternia and dealing with Nemesis Prime are most definitely intended to be a Future event as of yet Unchronicled by The Secretary. It is possible Uatu the Watcher parted the veils of Time and Space in order to gain further understanding on the Chaos Bringers interest in the Young Man from Earth Prime. _Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Dark Alliances Interlude._

**More as Follows I trust this has helped straighten out every aspect of the Chrysalis story featuring Alain Desrochers; Anything that is Unwritten will take some time for me to get around to if I write them myself I may enlist the aid of fellow Fanfic Authors who know characters like Ghost Rider, The Silver Surer and all that way better then me.**


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